Always Remember
by FizzingWhizbeez
Summary: They were good friends nothing more, nothing less. Then everything starts to change as their friendship grows into something more, but what happens when two people will do anything to keep them apart? Katie Bell & Oliver Wood. COMPLETE
1. Memory

I know I should probably be working on _Mischief Managed_ but I really wanted to start a new story. For a long time, Katie Bell and Oliver Wood have kept me intrigued, and eventually, the desire to write a story about them became irresistible. So... here it is! I promise I'll try my best to update on both stories ASAP. 

I guess I should put in the legal disclaimer, as usual. _sigh_. I don't own Harry Potter, the plot, the setting, and all that other whatnot, but I do own the plot of everything that happens between Katie and Oliver in this story. (yay! I get some credit for _something!_)

**Chapter 1**

"Katie Bell, you little minx! Where have you been all summer?"

Katie laughed as Angelina Johnson wrapped her into a tight hug.

"It's great to see you too, Angie," she laughed.

Two hands covered Katie's eyes from behind. "Guess who."

"Alicia?"

"Nope."

"Alicia?"

"Nope."

"Alicia?"

"Damn."

Katie spun around and saw Alicia Spinnet, who grinned and held her arms out for a hug. Katie jumped up, wrapping her legs around Alicia's waist and forcing her to carry her.

"Oof!" Alicia wheezed. "You've gained a few pounds over the summer, Bell."

"It's my mum's chocolate cakes, I swear," Katie grinned. "I'll be fatter than the Fat Lady before you know it."

Angelina scoffed. "She's like a _toothpick_," she said to Alicia. "And I'm not exaggerating."

"I'm sure," Alicia retorted sarcastically.

"I wouldn't want to be stuck between anyone's teeth," Katie said, pretending to be worried. "God forbid I had to go into someone's mouth."

Angelina and Alicia laughed.

"That sounded, um..._kind of _strange," Angelina giggled.

"Oh whatever," Katie grinned. "Let's get a compartment."

"Can you get off me first?" Alicia groaned.

Katie laughed and dropped her feet to the ground. She began to drag her trunk onto the train, and her friends followed. She loved these two, who had become very close to her despite the fact that they were a year older. Katie liked her roommates but as far as best friends went, Angelina and Alicia came out on top.

As soon as the girls stepped on the train, the infamous redheaded twins approached them.

"Angelina!" Fred said, sweeping into a dramatic bow and kissing her hand. "Thou art the radiant light in my dark soul, the epitome of hope in my wretched life, the—"

"Oh sod off, you prat," she laughed, snatching her hand back.

"Alicia," George said, bowing even more dramatically his brother did. "As ravishingly lovely as always, I see."

"You better not get started with the fancy-schmancy Shakespeare talk like Fred," she warned, "Or I'll smack you upside the head."

"Who's dissing Shakespeare?" Fred demanded. "I hope you know that I consider him—"

"And we mustn't forget the beautiful Miss Bell," George interrupted. He put an arm around Katie's slender waist and led the way to the compartment he and Fred had already put their trunks into. "Would you like your share of the—"

"Utterly ridiculous nonsense?" Katie laughed. "No thank you."

"I'm sorry, my lady, but I believe in equality!" George said in a booming voice. "Miss Bell, brightest star in the sky, love of my life, how lovely thou art."

"But surely not as lovely as _thou_ art," she teased.

Fred looked over at Katie and grinned. "Haven't changed at all since we last saw you, eh?" he said as he rumpled her hair.

"No. Disappointed?" she smiled.

"Not at all," he replied truthfully.

The twins helped the girls with their trunks. When they were finished, George checked his watch.

"We still have some time left before the train leaves," he said. "Anyone up for a little walk around?"

"And possibly some mischief along the way," Fred grinned, extending his elbow to Angelina, who linked her arm in his. Alicia took George's arm.

"Coming, Katie?" Fred asked, holding his other elbow out to her.

Katie was just about to take his arm when she looked down.

"Oh no," she groaned, looking down at her T-shirt and jeans. "I forgot to change into my robes."

"We'll wait for you," Angelina said kindly. "Change quickly and meet us outside, okay?"

"Yeah," Katie replied, rummaging around in her trunk for her black school robes. "Shoot," she muttered. "Where did I put them?"

With a start, she suddenly remembered. She'd been carrying her robes; they'd been draped over her arm. They _couldn't_ have slipped onto the ground somewhere, could they? If they did, it could take forever to find them...

"Looking for these?"

Katie spun around. Oliver Wood, the handsome captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, was leaning against the door with her robes in one hand.

"Thanks, Oliver," Katie said with relief, reaching for her robes.

Oliver moved his hand away quickly, keeping her robes out of reach.

"I don't even get a 'Hello, Oliver, how was your summer,'?" he teased.

"Why _hello_ Oliver!" Katie gushed. "How _are_ you? How was your summer? Oh Oliver, sugah, I can't say how much I've missed you! And how _handsome_ you've gotten! Land sakes, Oliver Wood, you'll be charming all the gir—"

Oliver stepped forward and put his hand over her mouth. "Okay, okay!" he laughed. "You can stop now."

"You asked for it," she grinned.

"Your hair is messy," he said suddenly. "Did a tornado go by that I happened to miss?"

"Yes, a tornado called Fred," Katie laughed, running her hand through her hair carelessly. She never really cared how she looked. "He took it upon himself to mess it up."

"Oh."

There was a sudden silence around them. Katie opened her mouth to speak just to get rid of the awful silence when she looked up. Oliver's warm brown eyes were gazing down into her hazel ones, and there was a look on his face that she'd never seen before. Whatever it was, it was making her cheeks heat up.

"Well I've done my duty," she said lightly, breaking eye contact as she snatched her robes from his hand. "Now I can have my robes back."

Oliver looked startled at first, but then he laughed.

"You're too much, Katie."

"I'm a handful, aren't I?" she grinned. "Now get out so I can change."

"Not even a proper thank you?" he said dryly. "Always the polite one, aren't you?"

"Yes, and you love me for it," Katie said sweetly. "Now get out before I boot that lovely arse of yours out the door."

Laughing, Oliver turned to leave. As he reached the door, Katie called, "Oliver."

He turned around.

"Thank you."

* * *

"Our latest products will be out soon. Are you girls interested in trying them out?" 

Katie opened her eyes and sat up drowsily. Through her half-closed eyes, which were still heavy with sleep, she saw that it was Fred who'd just spoken.

"Try out what?" she said sleepily.

"Well if it isn't the Sleeping Beauty, come back to life!" George exclaimed.

"Perfect timing, Katie," Fred said. "We were just telling Alicia and Angelina about our latest masterpieces."

"I wouldn't try your "masterpieces" if they were the last things to eat on earth," Angelina said fervently.

"Aw, Angelina," Fred protested.

The door opened and Oliver walked in.

"Hey, Oliver!" George said eagerly. "Are you willing to try out the latest Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes products?"

"Not really," Oliver said quickly. "I was actually just wondering if—"

"Bloody hell, why is the train slowing down?" Alicia interrupted.

The compartment grew quiet as the train slowed to a halt. They could hear loud curious voices and cries of indignation from the other compartments.

"Probably just a simple malfunction in the engine or something," Fred said confidently. "The conductor'll have it fixed in no time."

"Are you sure?" Angelina said anxiously.

Katie looked over at Oliver, who was still standing in the doorway. He had a grim expression on his face, as if he suspected it was more than just a "simple malfunction."

"Sit down, Oliver," Katie urged, patting the seat next to her. He sat down beside her wordlessly.

An ominous silence swept through the entire train. Not a sound could be heard from the other compartments. Then the light in the ceiling flickered for a second and everyone's eyes turned apprehensively to look at it. Suddenly all the lights in the train went out and everything was pitch-black.

Angelina screamed. There was the quiet murmur of someone speaking soothingly to her, and her screams ceased. Apparently, Fred had ditched his jokes for the moment in an effort to comfort her.

"I'm scared," Alicia whispered fearfully.

Katie started to shiver. Whatever was happening, she didn't like it. Oliver put an arm around her shoulders comfortingly, and she leaned her head against him.

"Why am I suddenly so cold?" she murmured into his shoulder.

He held her tighter, but he didn't reply. Even he didn't have an answer.

The compartment door began to open slowly. Six pairs of eyes widened as everyone turned quickly to see what it was. As their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they could see a pale bony hand appear, and soon after, a dark hooded figure.

"Dementors," Oliver whispered.

Katie looked into the dark shadow where the dementor's head was concealed from sight. She suddenly felt all her happiness drained from her, and she felt an icy grip around her heart. She closed her eyes to hide from the horrible faceless creature as she suddenly remembered what had happened the last day of school the year before...

_"What do you want?"_

_A harsh, rough laugh._

_"You Gryffindors always think you're so much better than everyone else."_

_"That's not true. It might be for Slytherins like you, but not for Gryffindors."_

_"Are you insulting my House?"_

_"Yes, it's full of dirty rotten asses like you." _

_"What did you say?"_

_"You heard me."_

_A tight grip on her wrist._

_"Let go of me."_

_"You better watch what you say, Katie, or you'll regret it."_

_"I won't regret anything. Leave me alone."_

_"I'll be waiting for you next year, Katie."_

_Heart pounding. Walk away, quick._

_Harsh, rough laughter echoing down the hall..._


	2. The Rescue

Muchos gracias to all my reviewers:

_Padfoot's Sidekick_- you're so sweet for reviewing _both_ my stories. I love you!  
_La Sylphide_- your praise makes me blush... thanks so much!  
_Katie_- What do you mean you're bad at reviews? Yours was really nice; thank you! Now, to answer your question about their ages...According to the books, there are two or three years between Katie and Oliver. I'm sticking with two. You'll see the significance of her age later on. (hint hint!)  
_Mary45_- another faithful reviewer of both stories! Hugs and kisses!  
_Crying Pixie_- were you referring to my portrayal of Oliver as cute? Or just Oliver in general? lol... well, I love him too. Thanks for reviewing.  
_IHopeForAnarchy_- cool penname! lol. Thank you so much for your review.  
_dark4u_- thanks! I'll try my best to update as often as possible.  
_freespirit65_- I'm so glad you like the witticism/sarcasm. I hope you like them as much as I enjoy writing them. Thanks for reviewing. (your story's going along great, by the way)

I borrowed some material from the third book, _Harry Potter_ _and the Prisoner of Azkaban_. Obviously, all that stuff belongs to J.K. Rowling. Also,someone asked a good question about the age difference between Katie and Oliver. It's two or three years, but I'm pretty sure it's two. However, she's in her fourth year, so you can assume she entered her first year at Hogwarts when she was 12, which is perfectly acceptable. Hope that cleared things up for you!

**Chapter 2**

"Katie."

Katie heard the voice calling her from a distance. It took her a moment to realize where she was, and when she did, she opened her eyes with a start.

The first thing she saw was the concerned look in Oliver's warm brown eyes.

"Katie, are you okay?"

She suddenly realized that she was still leaning against him, with her head on his shoulder and the front of his robes clutched tightly in her fist. She let go of him and sat up quickly.

"Yeah," she replied a bit breathlessly, tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear. "The dementor just scared me for a sec, but I'm fine now."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

Katie saw skepticism in Oliver's eyes but much to her relief, he didn't pursue the subject.

"Bloody hell. What were dementors doing on the train?" Angelina gulped.

"They were looking for someone," George replied, "and I'm pretty sure it's Sirius Black."

"That murderer escaped from Azkaban?" Angelina shrieked. "When? How?"

"You need to keep up with the times, girl," Fred said dryly.

"If it has anything to do with Sirius Black, Dumbledore'll tell us," Alicia said firmly. "He wouldn't keep us in the dark, _especially_ if such a notorious murderer was on the loose."

Katie looked up at Oliver to see what he thought. When he looked back at her, the intense look in his eyes made her look away in embarassment.

_What's the matter with you, Katie?_ she thought, mentally scolding herself. _Why are you blushing? It's only Oliver..._

* * *

"Welcome, welcome, to another year at Hogwarts!" Dumbledore said smilingly as he looked down at the crowd of students. "I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become fuddled by our excellent feast...As you will all be aware after their search on the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business..." 

He went on to say that the dementors were stationed at every entrance to the grounds and were impossible to fool with tricks or disguises.

"On a happier note," he continued, "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"He looks like he could use a spot of coffee," Katie murmured to Oliver, noticing the professor's haggard appearance and tired face.

"_Strong_ coffee," Oliver agreed.

After that, Dumbledore introduced Hagrid as the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher. Katie smiled when she saw the tears of pride and joy in the huge Gamekeeper's eyes; he had never looked so happy. She thought he fully deserved the job.

"Let the feast begin!" Dumbledore exclaimed as a conclusion to his speech. The golden plates on the tables suddenly contained delicious-looking dishes of all kinds.

Katie picked up her fork and was just about to take a bite of chicken when she happened to look up across the room and see..._him_. There he was, at the Slytherin table, with that malicious grin on his face and that odd glint in his eyes. He smirked when he saw he had her attention, and ran his tongue over his teeth in a sexually suggestive gesture.

Katie trembled with anger. If everyone else hadn't been around, nothing would have stopped her from putting her middle finger to use.

"The bastard," she muttered under her breath.

"_What?_" Oliver, having heard her, was staring at her in disbelief.

"Nothing," she said quickly.

But both knew it wasn't "nothing."

* * *

_Something's not right. She's hiding something, I know it. I wish she could trust me and let it all out. I want to help, but I can't when I don't know what's going on..._

_She's so pretty all of a sudden. Or maybe I just didn't notice it before. Is it just me, or are her eyes brighter, her laugh prettier, and her smile more beautiful than last year?_

_Bloody hell, what am I thinking? This is _Katie Bell _I'm thinking about!_ _I hope I'm not going insane..._

* * *

"Katie, where are you going?" 

"I left my book in Professor McGonagall's room," she called over her shoulder to Angelina and Alicia. "I'll be right back."

After getting her book, Katie paused by a certain staircase she knew very well. It led up to the Astronomy Tower, where she often went when she needed some time alone. Unable to resist the temptation, she went up to the Tower.

Katie smiled as a cool, delicious breeze blew in through the window and teased her hair. She leaned against the sill of a window and looked out at the starry sky.

Suddenly she felt her wand fly out of her pocket. As she whirled around to face her attacker, she felt ropes twist up around her and bind her hands and feet together.

* * *

_She's not back by now, and I'm getting worried. She just went to get her book—I heard her telling Angelina and Alicia. She should have been back long ago. Where is she? _

_I'm going to look for her._

* * *

"Montague," Katie spat, facing the burly Slytherin Chaser, who held her wand in his hand. 

"So pleased you recognize me," he sneered. "Did you miss me, Katie?"

"Not in the least," she retorted. "Who would ever miss _you_?"

"Ah, Katie, I see you haven't lost that fiery temper yet." He stepped closer to her and touched her cheek. She recoiled from his touch and was ready to beat the living daylights out of him when she remembered her bound hands and feet.

"You're a coward," Katie said fiercely. "You know I'm strong enough to fight back. So you have to resort to _this_?" She looked down at the tightly bound ropes around her wrists. "To take me by surprise and steal my wand so I can't do anything to defend myself? You're more of a coward than I thought."

"I'd watch what I say if I were you," he growled. "You're defenseless. I can do whatever I want with you."

"Can you?" she challenged, her chin raised defiantly.

Montague's eyes blazed with emotion. Grabbing her brusquely by the shoulders, he pressed his lips to hers and kissed her hard. Feeling utterly repulsed by him, Katie opened her mouth slightly and bit down forcefully on his bottom lip.

Montague gave a shout and jumped back.

"Bitch," he hissed, seeing blood on his finger when he touched his lip. "You'll be sorry you ever did that."

"I'm rather proud of myself for doing it," Katie said calmly. "Now if you'll kindly untie me, I must go and brush my teeth for, oh, only twenty-four hours or so. It's the only thing you can do when you've been kissed by a Slytherin, and a particularly nasty one at that."

Fierce rage flashed across Montague's face. As he stepped forward with his hands outstretched for her menacingly, a voice called from below:

"Montague? Montague, are you here?"

Montague snarled and turned around.

"What do you want?" he shouted down the stairs.

The voice floated back up to them. "Flint wants to call an emergency team meeting. Malfoy's had his arm hurt today by one of those monsters that belong to that big brute Hagrid. You have to come _now_."

"I'm coming," Montague answered. He turned around to face Katie again. "I'll be back," he sneered. "Don't miss me too much."

"Why would I miss someone who looks like you?" she said icily. "I'd thought all Neanderthals were extinct by now, but I must have been mistaken."

"You think you're so funny? I'll show you what's funny." He took her wand out of his pocket and placed it on the floor, just an inch away from her reach.

"You're hilarious, Montague," Katie said, rolling her eyes. "Now get out of here. Precious Malfoy can't be left alone with a tiny scratch on his arm."

Montague shot her a stormy glance before heading down the stairs.

Katie sighed with relief. Fighting with him always left her exhausted. She remembered the day he had first taken interest to her, when she'd lashed out at him for making fun of Oliver behind his back. From then on, her coldness only seemed to encourage him.

With another sigh, she slumped against the wall. Her wand seemed to taunt her; it was just out of reach. She pulled at the ropes, willing them to loosen from their tight knot. Her helpless fumbling didn't help; the ropes weren't any looser than before and her wrists and feet were beginning to feel numb. Feeling overcome by frustration, she looked up to the ceiling and screamed.

Suddenly there were footsteps on the stairs. Fast footsteps. Footsteps of someone who'd just heard her scream. A feeling of dread overcame Katie as she prayed it wasn't Montague.

She saw the last person she expected running through the doorway.

"_Oliver?_" she exclaimed, looking at the breathless Quidditch Captain in astonishment.

"Katie."

There was an awkward silence between them until Oliver noticed Katie's wand on the floor. As he bent down to pick it up, he noticed the ropes around her hands and feet.

"Katie! Who did this to you?" he asked anxiously, tapping his wand against the ropes and slicing them through.

"No time to explain," Katie said quickly.

Oliver rubbed her wrists, which had deep red marks on them from the ropes.

"All right, let's go," he said, putting her wand in her hand. Taking her other hand in his, he led her quickly down the stairs. They were halfway down when they heard footsteps coming up from the bottom.

"Shit," Oliver muttered, pulling her back up the stairs. At the top, he quietly said "Accio broomstick." Moments later, his broom came hurtling through the window. He grabbed Katie by the waist, jumped up on the broom, and flew quickly out the window. All this was done seconds before Montague reached the top.

As Katie and Oliver flew away, they heard his shout of rage echoing from the top of the tower.

* * *

A/N: so how do you like it? Give me your honest opinions please! Oh, by the way, I'm sure you all figured out the point of view of the story by now. From now on, it'll be mostly from Katie's third-person POV with a bit of Oliver's first-person POV in between. 


	3. Affection

Thanks so much to my reviewers— you really know how to brighten up a person's day!

**Tears-of-Love-Tears-of-Hate**- it was, actually, supposed to be "she." But I guess it works either way. By the way...did you change your penname or am I going insane?  
**Padfoot's Sidekick**- I know, Montague really is a git. You'll see what happens later on... Please keep reading!  
**IHopeForAnarchy**- you're so sweet! Thanks!  
**Star of the North**- thank you so much. I like _your _stories even more!  
**Katie**- I'm glad you like the POV changes. I wasn't too sure if it would work at first but I think it will. PS- is it just a coincidence that you have the same name as one of the two main characters in my story? lol... well I hope you find your very own Oliver to love, or do you have one already? ;)  
**Crying Pixie- **I know, isn't he gorgeous? And you were _not_ rambling; one can never talk too much about Oliver Wood!  
**Bubbleishness**- what a cute penname! :) Anyway, thanks so much for reviewing. As for your question about Montague's name, I think it's pronounced "mon- tuh- gew," with a hard "g" sound at the end. Please don't quote me on that; I'm not positive!

**_Chapter 3_**

Oliver steered the broom away from the tower, and they coasted down to where the dormitories were. He stopped when they reached Katie's window.

"Alohomora," Katie whispered with a point of her wand, making the window unlock and swing outward. She leaned forward and stepped into the room. Oliver stayed on his broom motionlessly, as if he were waiting for her to give an explanation.

"Oliver..." Katie began, having no idea what to say. "I...uh...well...thank you." He looked at her with those deep brown eyes, unnerving her with his steady gaze. "Well say something!" she cried, "you're making me nervous."

"What's going on, Katie? Who was that?"

Katie breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't seen Montague.

"Oh...well, no one important." She laughed nervously. "Don't worry about me."

"But I do."

"Oh, Oliver... everything's fine, it really is."

Oliver stepped off his broom into the room. He took Katie by the shoulders and looked into her eyes.

"Don't tell me everything's fine," he said quietly. "Because I know it isn't."

"You're looking too much into things," she protested, squirming out of his reach. "Don't be so overprotective."

"He had your hands and feet tied!" Oliver said, his voice rising. "And you're saying I'm looking too much into things? Katie, you could get seriously hurt if you don't tell anyone about what's happening!"

"I can handle it by myself," Katie said angrily. "I'm not a baby!"

"Then stop acting like one!" he shouted. "You're far from being an adult, Katie; you _can't _handle it yourself!"

This angered Katie more than anything else. "Are you saying I'm immature?" she said hotly. "Just because I'm two years younger doesn't mean I can't protect myself!"

"Actually, I think you're too damn proud to ask for help."

Katie stared at him in disbelief.

"Who do you think you are?" she demanded. "You have no control over my life."

"I _care_ about you, Katie! I—"

Both of them suddenly looked up at the door. They could hear Katie's roommates approaching, and they'd be opening the door any second now.

"I think you should leave," Katie said quietly.

Oliver stepped up on the windowsill and climbed up on his broom. He flew away without saying a word.

The door opened.

"Hi Katie," said her roommates as they came in.

"Hi," she murmured, climbing up onto her bed and pulling the drapes closed. Her roommates looked at each other and shrugged. They knew better than to bother her when she was in a bad mood.

Inside the protection of her draped bed, Katie hugged her pillow to her chest and closed her eyes tightly. That had been her first (and hopefully last) fight with Oliver, and she hated it.

_Why was I so bitchy?_ she wondered, feeling her cheeks burn with shame. _He was only trying to help... Did I have to get so defensive?_

With an aching feeling in her chest, Katie realized that Oliver was right. She was too proud to tell anyone, too proud to ask for help, not even to Angelina and Alicia, who were her best friends. The whole situation had been so embarrassing, and she hated thinking about the shame she would feel if she told anyone. Would they all think she was incapable of handling this problem by herself?

Katie looked down at her wrists. The red marks from the rope had faded by now. But the memory of Oliver's touch remained— how he'd taken her hand and led her away from danger when no one else had come to help.

_Like a knight in shining armor_, she thought wryly, looking down at her hands. They felt so empty now, without his hands to hold.

Suddenly becoming angry at herself for such sentimental feelings, Katie clenched her hands into tight fists, willing herself to suppress such ridiculous thoughts.

_Tomorrow_, she thought. _Tomorrow, I'll apologize to him._

* * *

There he was, sitting at that table with Fred and George, who wouldn't let him study by making him laugh at their hilarious jokes. Katie stood a bit away from them, watching Oliver and waiting for a chance to speak to him. She felt extremely uncomfortable about the whole thing, but she knew she had to apologize no matter how much she didn't want to. 

Finally Oliver got up, and with a laugh he said, "That's it. I'm not getting any studying down with you two around."

"Just doin' our duty, Cap'n," Fred grinned.

"Can't have you worrying too much about N.E.W.Ts, you know," George agreed. "They're bad for the health."

"Yeah whatever," Oliver laughed. "I'll see you guys later."

As he passed where she stood behind the wall, Katie was frantically trying to decide whether to approach him or not. Suddenly she called out, "Wood!"

_Oh Katie_, she thought as he turned around, his eyebrows raised in surprise. _Why'd you have to open that big mouth of yours?_

"What's up, Katie?"

Katie hesitated. "Well...um...I just..." _Stop stuttering and get on with it, Katie!_ she told herself fiercely. "I just wanted to say sorry," she blurted.

He just looked at her, with his head tilted slightly to the side and a lock of hair falling over his eyes, in that adorable way that could captivate any girl's heart. The steady gaze of his brown eyes on her face made her cheeks flush with embarrassment.

"I know you were just trying to help," Katie babbled on, anxious to break the silence. "And then I had to go off like that and bitch to you and get all mad when I should've been thanking you and you're right, I _am_ a naïve, bratty little kid and I acted the part last night—"

As she paused to take a much-needed breath, Oliver clasped his hand over her mouth.

"Okay, okay, I get it," he laughed. "You could've spared me the long speech."

"Sorry," she laughed, feeling immensely relieved that the uncomfortable tension between them was broken.

"You didn't have to apologize; it was my fault for trying to pry into your life. And I _never_ called you a 'naïve, bratty little kid.'"

"I know," she said, smiling sheepishly. "I kind of exaggerated that."

"But even if I _was_ nosy," Oliver continued, "it was with good intentions. I was really worried, Katie. Still am, in fact..." He leaned closer. "This'll be the last time I ask this, but... are you okay? Tell the truth, Bell."

Katie sighed. "I might as well tell you," she said resignedly. "There's a Slytherin boy who's unfortunately taken a fancy to me, and..." She shrugged. "You can probably guess the rest."

"Who is it?" he asked, his eyes narrowing and clearly showing his obvious desire for revenge on whoever it was.

"Don't overreact, Oliver," Katie implored. "Please. I didn't tell you who it was for another reason besides my damn pride."

Oliver took a deep breath, as if trying to calm his anger. "All right," he said at last. "I should be satisfied that you at least told me what was going on."

Katie put her hand on his arm. "Listen, Oliver, I'm really touched by your concern," she said softly. A warm glow appeared in his eyes as she spoke. "Thank you. I really mean it." She laughed lightly. "You're like the big brother I never had."

The glow in his eyes faded a little. Katie felt like smacking herself. _Why'd you have to go and say a stupid thing like that?_ she thought angrily.

"Yeah," he said, managing to smile. He stepped closer to her and touched her cheek. "Katie... no matter what I'm doing or where I am, and if you come to me and need to talk, I'll put everything aside and listen. As your "big brother"— (he smiled wryly as he said this) — "I'll do anything to protect you. Always remember that."

"I will," Katie whispered, touched by how compassionate he was.

Oliver took his hand away from her cheek. He smiled at her once and walked away, leaving Katie to think back on what had just happened.

It sounded silly, but Oliver _was_ kind of like a brother to her. Ever since he "discovered" her in her second year and convinced her to try out for the team, he'd been watching out for her.

_But do you want him to be just a brother?_ said a voice at the back of her head. _Or...something more?_

Katie groaned. _I can't think about this_, she thought. _Not now..._ But there was a tiny part of her that _did_ want something more... She shook her head, trying to block out the stupid thoughts that were making her blush. It was just a fantasy that she'd get over soon.

They were friends, and nothing more. There was no room in Oliver Wood's life for a girl like Katie Bell.


	4. Hogsmeade & Halloween

Before I start all my thank-yous, I want to write a little about the story first. You might be wondering why I chose a random guy like Montague to be Katie's pursuer. Two reasons: One— In the Katie-Oliver stories I've read so far, _all_ of them use Marcus Flint, the Slytherin Quidditch captain, as the bully, and I wanted to be different... Two— Montague does something to Katie in the final Gryffindor-Slytherin game that _could_ be used to show how angry he gets at her later. And I didn't make up what he does to her in that game; check the third book yourself if you don't believe me. If you're too lazy to go look for that book in the mess under your bed, in the closet, the laundry hamper, or wherever you saw it last, then you'll have to see for yourself what happens later on...  
Also, some people worried about the whole big brother thing. Don't worry! Katie and Oliver's sibling-like relationship _will not_ last for long! Trust me!

Anyway, time for my individual thank-yous. If you're getting sick of reading my A/N and want to move along to the story, just read what I wrote to you and skip the rest...

**IHopeForAnarchy**- I agree; that last line is _definitely_ not true, but Katie believes it is (for now, at least). And yes, Oliver _is _incredibly hot and sexy and gorgeous and... lol you get the picture. Isn't Sean Biggerstaff to _die for?!  
_**Tears-of-Love-Tears-of-Hate**- Thanks for reviewing! (By the way, I like your new penname.) Keep reading... this chapter just might be dedicated to you...  
**Bubbleishness**- I can see why you hate the whole brother thing; I wouldn't like it either if it was going to stay that way... but it isn't! Like I said, that whole sibling thing will change, I promise! Now that I've said that, I hope you don't hate me anymore... ;)  
**Padfoot's Sidekick**- Thanks for the encouragement; it's so nice of you! Keep reading... you just might see a dedication to you...  
**Star of the North**- Katie really does have a big mouth! And you're right— her independence and denial can really get to be a problem... later, you'll see just how much. Thanks for your review!  
**aya777**- yay a new reviewer! Thanks so much!

Once again, I'm borrowing material and some direct quotes from "HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban." You all know who that stuff belongs to... J.K. Rowling, obviously.

_This chapter is for **Padfoot's Sidekick** and **Tears-of-Love-Tears-of-Hate**, who've been supporting both my stories for such a long time. You have no idea how much I appreciate that. Hugs and kisses to both of you..._

_**Chapter 4**_

October came along, and with it, Quidditch season. Oliver called a team meeting and after everyone had settled down, he began to speak.

"This is our last chance — _my_ last chance — to win the Quidditch Cup," he said, pacing back and forth. "I'll be leaving at the end of this year. I'll never get another shot at it. Gryffindor hasn't won for seven years now. Okay, so we've had the worst luck in the school—injuries—then the tournament getting called off last year... But we also know we've got the _best ruddy team in the school. _

"We've got three _superb_ Chasers."

Katie, Alicia, and Angelina smiled at this.

"We've got two _unbeatable _Beaters."

"Stop it, Oliver, you're embarrassing us," said the twins, pretending to blush.

"And we've got a Seeker who has _never failed to win us a match!_"

Katie looked at Harry and winked at him. He smiled back shyly.

"...And me," Oliver said humbly, as if he didn't deserve any praise.

"We think you're very good too, Oliver," said George.

"Spanking good Keeper," said Fred, as the whole team nodded in agreement.

"The point is," Oliver continued, continuing to walk back and forth, "the Quidditch Cup should have had our name on it these last two years. Ever since Harry joined the team, I've thought the thing was in the bag. But we haven't got it, and this year's the last chance we'll get to finally see our name on the thing..."

Katie wanted to jump up and hug him- anything to get rid of that hopeless look on his face.

"Oliver, this year's our year," said Fred. The rest of the team spoke up in unison, saying enthusiastically that they'd be winning the Cup this year. The twins even made up a ridiculous cheer that they claimed would be sure to win them the Cup. That managed to get a small smile out of Oliver.

As the team cleared out of the room, Katie lingered behind. She walked up to Oliver, who smiled when he saw her. She smiled back and laid her hand lightly on his arm.

"Don't worry so much, Wood," she said brightly. "We can do this, I know we can. I can feel it...and usually I don't believe in that "feeling" and Divination crap."

Oliver laughed. "I don't either, but I'll trust you just this once."

"But don't you _always_ trust me?" she said, pretending to pout.

"I'd trust you as much as I trust the Weasleys."

"Now that's not very nice, especially when I'm being all nice to you like this!" Katie put her hands on her hips.

"Just kidding," Oliver laughed, putting his arms around her and giving her a hug. "I do trust you, Bell."

"That's good to know." She smiled up at him. Then, in a softer voice she said, "This'll be your year, Oliver. You _will_ win the Cup before you leave."

"No," he said, touching his forehead to hers. "_We_ will win the Cup. All of us."

Katie smiled, and Oliver smiled back. He slipped his arm around her waist and they walked out together.

* * *

"Yes! Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!" 

"Bloody hell, Alicia!" Katie shouted as she looked up from her homework and saw the usually self-controlled girl bouncing up and down.

"What're you so happy about?" Angelina drawled.

"Hogsmeade weekend, sillies! On Halloween!"

Katie and Angelina gaped at their friend.

"What?" Katie gasped. "Since when?"  
  
"It was posted in the common room just now," said Alicia. "Gotta go tell everyone else, see ya." She bounced back out the door, followed by Katie and Angelina, who were laughing at their friend's infectious enthusiasm.

* * *

Hogsmeade weekend couldn't come fast enough, especially for the team. Oliver was relentlessly training them without mercy, despite the twins' cajoling and attempts to bribe him into ending practice early by offering him Zonko's finest. Rain or shine, the team had to go through the impossibly strenuous training sessions until they were nearly on the verge of cursing Oliver.

Finally, Halloween arrived and the team was rewarded by a much-desired break. Katie was just about to head upstairs to her dorm to get ready when she saw Harry in the common room.

"Hi, Harry," she called, waving to the Seeker. "I bet you're excited for your first Hogsmeade trip!"

Harry shook his head. "I can't go," he said glumly.

Katie was horrified. "Can't go?" she cried. "What do you mean?"

"My uncle didn't sign the form for me and McGonagall won't let me go without it."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Katie said sympathetically. "I'll get you a bunch of stuff from Honeydukes."

"Thanks," he muttered as she went upstairs. Katie felt so bad for him. Both his parents were dead, he was an orphan, he was forced to live with his horrible relatives... and he couldn't even have the simple pleasure of going to Hogsmeade for a day? What kind of world was this?

Angelina's shout of frustration broke into Katie's thoughts as she stepped into the older girls' room.

"My hair is a mess!" Angelina cried as she yanked a brush through her tangled hair.

"Oh, Angie..." Katie walked over to her friend and took the brush. With careful, patient strokes, she brushed out the knots in Angelina's hair.

"How do you want it done?"

"Tied with this ribbon, please."

"There," Katie said a moment later, with a satisfied look on her face. "Fred won't know what hit him when he sees you."

"_What?_" Angelina cried, turning around quickly.

Katie laughed. "I know you like him," she grinned. "And I've known it for a while."

Angelina blushed. "I don't like him. Just as a friend... fine, maybe a _little_ more than a friend..."

Katie laughed again. "I think he likes you back," she said honestly. "How could he not, when you're so gorgeous?" Katie meant it; the black girl was beautiful.

"Thanks, Katie," Angelina smiled, hugging her. "You're a doll."

"Will you hurry up?" Alicia's voice floated up the stairs. "If you're not down in three seconds, I'm turning the Weasleys loose on you!"

* * *

"C'mon girls, _please?_"

"Hogsmeade weekend isn't Hogsmeade weekend without a trip to good ol' Zonko's, you know."

The Weasley twins looked at the girls with angelic puppy dog expressions on their faces.

"Fine!" Alicia laughed. "But it better not take too long."

After an hour's worth of shopping at Zonko's (much to Alicia's annoyance), the group headed to The Three Broomsticks for butterbeers. As they were ordering their drinks, Oliver left his group of seventh-year friends and came over.

"Hi," he said, sliding into the seat beside Katie.

"Oh, so _now_ you come over to talk to us?" she laughed.

"Sorry," he grinned. "Too much time with the Weasleys makes me sick sometimes."

"Hey!" the twins said together.

"Unless you behave..." Fred threatened.

"...you're voted off the island," George finished.

The girls listened in with delight as the hilarious banter between Oliver and the twins went on. Then, after they finished their drinks, they headed outside.

"Let's just walk around a bit," Alicia suggested.

"Yeah, I don't feel like shopping anymore," Angelina agreed.

"Do you want me to carry your bags for you?" Oliver asked Katie, who's arms were laden with overflowing bags from Honeydukes. One was for Harry and the other was for her own sweet tooth.

Katie was about to refuse —she liked to do things for herself— but when she realized how nice Oliver was being, she appreciated his offer and gave her bags to him.

"Thanks," she smiled.

The twins, noticing Oliver's chivalrous action, immediately took Angelina's and Alicia's bags.

"Can't be outdone by Wood, you know," George explained to the girls.

"That would be the worst humiliation of all," Fred nodded gravely.

The day was full of laughter and joy, and Katie thought it couldn't get any better.

* * *

"Let's go, Katie!" Angelina called. "I don't want us to be late for the feast."

"Coming!" Katie called as she dumped her bags onto her bed. She was about to race back out when something fell out of one of the bags. She picked it up curiously. It was a beautifully decorated box, wrapped with a satiny red ribbon.

Katie carefully untied the ribbon and lifted the lid. Inside, there were a dozen delicious-looking chocolate covered strawberries. Katie wanted to eat one right away, but she soon forgot about that when a note fluttered out of the box onto the floor. She bent down to pick it up and read:

_For a girl who's as sweet as what's inside this box. Thanks for always being there..._

* * *

"Thanks, Oliver," Katie murmured as she sat down at the table.

"For what?"

"The strawberries."

Oliver grinned. "How did you know it was me?"

"Who else would write such a corny note, and then leave it unsigned?"

Oliver laughed. "I just love your honesty, Bell."

"It's one of my most cherished virtues," she smiled.

The Halloween Feast was fantastic, as usual. The decorations were superb and the food was excellent. Nearly Headless Nick kept them all entertained with a reenactment of his own beheading.

After the feast, the group went upstairs, feeling full and happy. But the mood didn't last.

"What the hell is going on?" Fred wondered as they approached the crowd in Gryffindor Tower. Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall were there, as well as Percy, who stood beside them importantly.

Katie heard the other Gryffindors whispering.

"...ran away.."

"...Fat Lady..."

"...someone attacked her..."

Katie pushed through the crowd. When she saw it, she gasped with horror. The Fat Lady had disappeared and the painting had been slashed viciously, with torn strips of it on the floor below.

She heard Peeves cackling delightedly above them. She got through the front of the crowd just in time to hear his words to Dumbledore:

"He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see." Peeves flipped over and looked at the Headmaster between his own legs. "Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black."

* * *

A/N: Sorry to leave off with a cliffhanger! I'll make up for it though... I promise you'll like the next chapter. Ciao! 


	5. Night

Thanks to:

**IHopeForAnarchy**: Yes, you're so right; he's to _kill_, not die, for! Do you know if he's single?... Oh and, (in a sing-songy voice): guess who this chapter's being dedicated to...  
**Tears-of-Love-Tears-of-Hate**: no problem; it was my pleasure. You more than deserved the dedication.  
**Star of the North**- yes I know, Katie's a bit thickheaded when it comes to romance and Oliver Wood. But she'll soon start to catch on...  
**Crying Pixie**- oh you're so sweet! Thank you!  
**Katie-** sorry for the cliffie! I tend to let my evil side take over sometimes... ;)

All my reviewers— thank you so much. I would've given up long ago if not for you.

_This chapter's for **IHopeForAnarchy**, my fellow Oliver Wood/Sean Biggerstaff-obsessed Asian buddy. May we always love the impossibly cute Sean... _;)

_**Chapter 5**_

There was a collective gasp from the students, and a few girls shrieked. Professor McGonagall's lips were drawn into a thin line and the Headmaster's face was creased into a grave frown.

"Quiet. Quiet, please," he said. Dumbledore never spoke loudly, but even so, everyone became quiet and listened with respect. That was the kind of man Albus Dumbledore was.

"Students, please return to the Great Hall in an orderly fashion. The Head Boy, Head Girl, and the prefects will lead you there."

Percy moved to the head of the line and cleared his throat importantly.

"Let's go, people! Single file and no talking!"

Of course, no one listened to him. The halls were noisy with voices—some terrified and anxious, and others happy that they didn't have to go to bed yet—and it only became noisier when the other three Houses arrived a few minutes later in the Great Hall. Feeling proud to know something the others didn't, the Gryffindors quickly told them what had happened.

All discussions were cut off as Dumbledore returned and began to speak. While he did, the professors went around shutting all the doors to the Hall.

"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle. I'm afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want the prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the hall and I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge." He turned to Percy and said, "Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately. Send word with one of the ghosts."

Percy, looking smug and immensely pleased with himself, nodded.

Dumbledore was about to leave when he paused. "Oh, yes, you'll be needing..." With a wave of his hand, the tables flew to the sides of the room and the floor was covered with squashy, cozy-looking sleeping bags.

"Sleep well," he said before closing the doors.

The Hall buzzed with chatter and Percy frowned. "Everyone into their sleeping bags!" he shouted. "Come on now, no more talking! Lights out in ten minutes!"

Katie grabbed a sleeping bag and Angelina and Alicia did the same. As they settled themselves comfortably on the soft, squashy fabric, the twins and their friend Lee came over with their own sleeping bags.

"Hullo! Fancy meeting you here!" Fred exclaimed, pretending to be surprised.

"Don't fool around, Fred," Angelina laughed. "This is no time for joking around; there's a convicted murderer on the loose."

"She said, with a big smile on her own face," he muttered, rolling his eyes. But he smiled when she laughed again, and he moved his sleeping bag close to hers.

"Never thought they'd let us all sleep together," George said wickedly, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Please, George," Alicia drawled. "Spare us the lame comments."

"Where d'you suppose they'll find Sirius Black?" Lee wondered aloud.

"In Snape's dungeon," George said immediately. "It'd be such a Snape thing to do to work as a spy and hide Black in his own classroom."

"No, they'll probably find him on the grounds trying to run away," Alicia retorted.

"Or in the girls' bathroom," Lee said with a grin. "Don't a lot of convicts have sick minds?"

They debated heatedly on where they thought Sirius Black would be found, with George even betting one of his precious sets of dungbombs that he was right and the others weren't. Katie listened with amusement, but a while later she lost interest. She looked over at Fred and Angelina to see what they were doing.

_Why am I not surprised?_ she thought smilingly as she saw them snuggled together, with Angelina's head leaning against his shoulder.

Katie let out a sigh and looked around the room. Almost all the way across the hall, she caught a glimpse of Oliver with his seventh-year friends. After a moment's decision, she stood and made her way across the hall to where they sat.

"Hey," she said as she sat down on the floor.

"Hi, Katie," Oliver smiled. He moved over on his sleeping bag. "Don't sit on the floor; it's cold."

Katie smiled gratefully at him and sat on his sleeping bag. She looked around his circle of friends, and they smiled friendlily at her.

"Hey, Bell," said a boy named Dave. "Enjoying your break from Oliver's impossible training sessions?"

Katie laughed. "I'm taking advantage of it while I can."

"Now don't you _both_ gang up on me," Oliver grinned, holding his hands up in defense. "I can only fight off one at a time, you know."

"Fight off who?"

Katie looked up and saw another of Oliver's friends, a Ravenclaw, walking over to them.

"Is there room for me?" he said with a laugh as he looked around the tight circle.

"I can leave if you want me to," Katie offered, moving to stand up.

"Oh no you don't." Oliver pulled her back down.

"Sit in Oliver's lap," Dave suggested. "Then Frank can sit where you're sitting now."

"Is that okay with you?" Katie asked Oliver, blushing slightly. He only smiled and moved his legs apart so she could sit between them. As she settled into his lap, Katie was startled by how well they fit together. His torso fit the curve of her back perfectly and she was just short enough for him to rest his chin lightly on the top of her head.

The others apparently noticed this also.

"Aw, don't you two look so cozy..." one boy joked.

"Yeah, you could be a couple," said another, laughing.

"Oh sod off, you two," Oliver laughed, while Katie blushed. She could feel his chest vibrate with his deep laughter.

As the subject of the conversation changed--to Katie's great relief--to what they were all planning to do after graduating, Katie listened with interest, especially at what Oliver was saying.

"I still want to play Quidditch even after I leave," he said. "My mum wants me to get a job in the Ministry, but the jobs there are all so..."

"Stuffy?" Katie finished for him.

"Exactly. Quidditch is my life; I can't just give it up."

"Who do you want to play for?" Ray asked.

Oliver shrugged. "That's the hard part— finding a team I like that'll accept me."

The other boys went on to talk about what they wanted to do. Then Katie felt an uncomfortable sensation, as if someone was watching her. She turned her head and her eyes locked with Montague's. He stared at her with that fierce look in his eyes. At the moment he looked extremely jealous and possessive, as if he wanted to murder Oliver on the spot.

"Is he the one?" Oliver asked quietly.

Katie looked up in surprise. Oliver had followed her gaze toward the group of Slytherins and he had clearly seen Montague looking at Katie.

_Bloody hell, he knows who it is now..._ she thought desperately.

"It's Montague, isn't it?"

She sighed resignedly. "Yes, it's him. But please don't—"

"I know," he murmured reassuringly. "I won't go after him unless you want me to."

"Thank you," she whispered, smiling up at him. He looked down into her eyes and smiled back. The expression of his chocolate-brown eyes looked so kind, so warm... Their faces inches closer, and closer...

"The lights are going out now!" Percy shouted, ruining the moment. He was good at doing that to people. "I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!"

The candles went out at once.

"Damn," Katie muttered. "Do you think I can make it back?" She eased herself out of his lap and stood uncertainly, unable to see where her friends were.

"No," he replied, taking her hand and pulling gently on it. She sat back down. "You'll step on everyone's faces trying to find your sleeping bag."

"Then what do I do?" she retorted. "Sleep with you?"

"Why not?"

Katie looked sharply at him. "_What?_ I was just kidding!" She waited for him to say, "So was I," but he didn't. "Don't tell me you're serious, Wood..."

"I'm not trying to seduce you, Katie!" he said, chuckling. "I'm just being practical. You'll cause a huge commotion trying to get back, especially since you can't see three feet in front of you with the lights off."

He was right. There _would _be a commotion and Percy would hate her forever. Katie smiled a little at that.

"Whatever. Do what you want," Oliver said as he began unzipping the sleeping bag. "If you want to stumble blindly back to your sleeping bag, take the risk of tripping over someone's face, fall over on a dozen people, and break your neck and a few people's noses in the process... be my guest."

"Now that you put it that way, I guess I have to stay," Katie said sarcastically as he slipped into the sleeping bag. He turned away from her on his side and closed his eyes.

Katie gave a heavy sigh, contemplating what to do. Finally she slipped into the sleeping bag feet-first and lay down. As soon as she did, Oliver turned to face her.

"Knew I'd get you that way," he grinned.

"Don't be so pleased with yourself," she replied, trying to keep as much distance between them as possible. "You're acting as airheaded as Percy."

"Now, Miss Bell, what did I do to deserve such an insult?"

"For being an arse, that's what."

Oliver laughed softly. "Ah, Katie," he said smilingly. "May you be as rude and cynical 'til the day you die."

"Which won't be anytime soon, so you'll have to deal with it for a while."

Oliver laughed again, and she couldn't help smiling.

"Unfortunately for me, right?" he joked. A moment later, he said, "Why are you staying so far away from me? Don't tell me you still believe in cooties."

Katie laughed. "No, I don't. I'm not in elementary school anymore."

"Then what is it?" He moved closer to her.

"Nothing!" she exclaimed, her heart beating faster.

"Are you sure?" He reached up and played with the ends of her hair. A delicious shiver shot up Katie's spine.

"Oh, stop it," she laughed, pushing him away. She was glad the darkness hid her red cheeks. "If you keep such nonsense up, people will look over at us and think we're doing something naughty."

"So?"

Katie gave him a _look._

"Okay, okay! I was just kidding!" he said, laughing. "Fine, I'll stop. If you insist."

"Thank you," she said, smiling.

"You're welcome." A moment later he yawned tiredly and said, "Good night, Bell."

"Good night."

Katie stayed still, looking up at the ceiling, which was dotted with twinkling stars. She listened as Oliver's breathing became slow and even and soon she, too, was fast asleep.

* * *

A/N: As always, I borrowed material from "HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban." Since all this legal disclaimer stuff is getting on my nerves, let me say this once and for all: "ALL THAT BELONGS TO J.K. ROWLING!!" There, now I don't have to say it again. 

By the way...Happy Belated Halloween!

PS- IHopeForAnarchy... was this a satisfactory dedication chapter?! lol


	6. Defeat

You can't imagine how psyched I was when I went online this morning and saw all your reviews! That was the highlight of my day!! Thank you!!!

**La Sylphide**- the best Katie/Oliver story...the _best_ Katie/Oliver story??!!! Thank you so so so much! And I'm so glad you think I'm staying true to canon; I try my best. If I put one toe out of line, you have to tell me. Also, as for Montague's intentions... it's a bit of both: he's really attracted to Katie, _and _the fact that he's one of those ambitious Slytherins does make him power-hungry. Katie's defiance only makes her more attractive to him. But enough said! You'll see what happens later on...  
**Tears-of-Love-Tears-of-Hate**- aw...thanks! Oh, and I think you did read it incorrectly because although Katie _is _talking to Oliver, she's comparing him to Percy... I hope you understand it now!  
**IHopeForAnarchy- **lol you're so funny; you're just as hyper and overexcited as I am! Anyway, I'm so glad you liked it! And of course I'll join your community thing... what do I have to do?  
**Padfoot's Sidekick**- you're very welcome! And thank _you_ for being such a great reviewer!  
**Bubbleishness**- oh whew you don't hate me anymore. lol! Thanks for reviewing!  
**Crying Pixie**- aw, don't hate Katie... but don't we all? lol! Too bad we can't be in her shoes...  
**Star of the North- **yes it is a bit naughty isn't it? ::grins slyly:: Oh and by the way, when will you be updating "Tale of a Time Long Gone"? I can't stand waiting any longer!  
**Katie**- thanks so much! I'm so glad you liked it.

**_Chapter 6_**

_She looks so peaceful when she's asleep... almost angelic, with the morning sunlight from the window making her hair and face seem to glow... how could anyone want to hurt a girl like this?_

_I can't say how much I wanted to murder Montague with my bare hands last night. I still do. But Katie would be furious at me if I beat the living daylights out of that hulking git the way I want to. _

_So, luckily for him, I'll leave him alone..._ _for now. Because I swear, if he dares to put another finger on my Katie again... _

_"My Katie." Bloody hell, why do I keep calling her that in my head? I'm supposed to be like a big brother to her; she said so herself. But then why did it bother me so much when she said that?..._

* * *

_I wonder if I still have some time to sleep a bit more before Angelina jumps on the bed and wakes me up like she does every morning... _

With her eyes still closed sleepily, Katie felt around for her pillow. But when her hand brushed against something firm instead of a soft, fluffy cushion, her eyes opened quickly.

The first things she saw were Oliver's brown eyes, which seemed to laugh silently at her. Katie felt her cheeks flare up as she remembered where she was...

"Did you sleep well?" he asked, with that twinkle still in his eyes.

Katie sat up quickly and looked around. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that the other students were asleep. Well...not really... she turned her head away quickly when she saw Angelina (always the early riser) laughing at her from across the hall.

"Well, I'd best be going now," she said lightly as she stood. She could tell that Oliver was still laughing at her as she stumbled to her own cold sleeping bag.

* * *

"So I woke up and I saw Katie sleeping with Oliver!" 

"Angelina, would you shut it?" Katie said crossly as Alicia's eyes grew wide.

"_Sleeping _with _Oliver?!_" Alicia repeated, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"Yup, and they looked quite cozy togeth--"

"Angelina, if you want to live, I suggest you keep that mouth shut." Katie rolled her eyes as her best friends started cracking up hysterically.

"I had to!" she protested when they wouldn't stop laughing. "What was I supposed to do, kill myself trying to find my sleeping bag in the dark?"

"Or you could have not gone to him in the first place," Alicia gasped between chortles.

"Oh please..." Katie muttered. Then she looked up and saw the Fat Lady's substitute. "Look, the Fat Lady's portrait is gone!"

_That_ got their attentions at last. Alicia groaned.

"Oh no, not Sir Cadogan..."

"Halt!" cried the little knight. "Who dares to step on my premises?"

"Oh hush," Angelina said impatiently. "Let us in, we don't know the password yet."

"My apologies, fair maiden, but I shalt not let in those without the password."

Luckily for the girls, the twins stepped out just then. When they saw the girls, they held the door open for them.

"The password's 'Rubilacxe,'" Fred whispered. "That's 'Excalibur' spelled backwards."

"This guy believes in impossible passwords and changing them every three hours," George added.

"Oh great," Alicia muttered as they went inside. "I miss the Fat Lady already."

* * *

As the match versus Slytherin drew nearer, practices went on despite the steadily-worsening weather. In fact, Oliver trained them even harder. But even so, the team's confidence began to build. They thought the whole thing was in the bag; Slytherin was going down. 

But that was when their plans came crashing down.

"We're not playing Slytherin."

The team looked up in shock at their captain. They couldn't believe what they were hearing.

"_What?_" the twins said together.

"Flint's just been to see me," Oliver said angrily. "We're playing Hufflepuff instead."

"Why?" everyone said together.

"Flint's excuse is that their Seeker's arm's still injured. But it's obvious why they're doing it. Don't want to play in this weather. Think it'll damage their chances..."

"There's _nothing wrong _with Malfoy's arm," Harry shouted furiously. "He's faking it!"

"I know that, but we can't prove it," Oliver said bitterly. "And we've been practicing all those moves assuming we're playing Slytherin, and instead it's Hufflepuff, and their style's quite different. They've got a new Captain and Seeker, Cedric Diggory-"

Angelina, Alicia, and Katie suddenly giggled.

"What?" Oliver said crossly.

"He's that tall, good-looking one, isn't he?" Angelina giggled.

"Strong and silent," Katie smiled. Oliver scowled when she said this but the girls didn't notice as they were already launching into another fit of giggles.

"He's only silent because he's too thick to string two words together," Fred said, rolling his eyes. "I don't know why you're so worried, Oliver. Hufflepuff is a pushover. Last time we played them, Harry caught the Snitch in about five minutes, remember?"

"We were playing in completely different conditions!" Oliver shouted. The team grew quiet and the girls stopped giggling. "Diggory's put a very strong side together! He's an excellent Seeker! I was afraid you'd take it like this! We mustn't relax! We must keep our focus! Slytherin is trying to wrong-foot us! _We must win!_"

"Wood's losing it," Alicia muttered to Katie, who couldn't agree more.

* * *

The day of the match dawned on a bright and clear morning... 

_Ha!_ _I wish_, Katie thought, looking out the window at the torrent of rain that was pouring down from the skies. There couldn't have been worse weather to play in for a Quidditch match.

"Bet the Slytherins are happy," Oliver said bitterly as he walked up beside her.

"Oh Wood, don't be so cynical. That's my job." That managed to get a laugh out of him. "We'll do fine, Oliver," she added reassuringly. "Harry's amazing; Diggory won't stand a chance."

"I thought you loved the 'strong and silent' one."

Katie laughed. "Oliver, if I weren't mistaken, I'd say you were jealous!" Before he could reply, she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards the door. "C'mon, we can't be late. We have to show those Hufflepuffs who's boss!"

* * *

Despite the rain, nearly the whole school showed up for the match. The Slytherins booed and hissed as the Gryffindor team came out in their scarlet robes. Katie's eyes narrowed as she saw the smug look on Draco Malfoy's face. Then she saw Montague, and he smirked at her. She calmly gave him the finger and mounted her broom. 

Katie waited for the game to start, her heart pounding with anticipation. When Madame Hooch blew her whistle, Katie shot off into the air. She immediately almost regretted her enthusiasm to get on the field. She couldn't see a thing.

"Bloody rain," she muttered, wiping away impatiently at the raindrops that were getting in her eyes.

"Katie!"

Katie looked up just in time to catch the Quaffle from Alicia. Feeling a rush of adrenaline, she sped off towards the goal. A Hufflepuff Chaser was right on her heels. Swerving above him, she pitched the ball at one of the hoops.

She held her breath. The Keeper missed and Gryffindor was up by ten.

Gryffindor was fifty points ahead when Oliver called for a time-out. Katie reached the ground in time to hear Harry saying that he couldn't see the Snitch at all. Just then, she saw Hermione hurrying up to them.

"I've had an idea," she said breathlessly, reaching for Harry's glasses. She tapped them with her wand and said, "_Impervius._" As she handed them back to Harry, she explained, "It repels water."

"Brilliant!" Oliver shouted after her as she left. He showed the first sign of hope they'd seen all day.

With Harry's vision restored, the Gryffindors were ready for anything. Katie soared into the sky, making quick passes to Angelina and Alicia.

When they scored three in a row, Katie cried, "Yes!" Cold, drenched from head to toe, but exhilarated, she flew quickly after a Hufflepuff Chaser who'd stolen the Quaffle. Just then, she heard Oliver shouting, "Harry!"

Katie turned her head quickly. Harry and Cedric were on a mad dash for the Snitch. Suddenly Harry stopped and Katie couldn't see why. A moment later, the patch of mist before her cleared and she saw what had made Harry freeze like that.

"Dementors," she whispered. There were at least a hundred. Then, before she knew it, Harry was falling off his broom and plummeting downward to the ground far, far away. As if that wasn't bad enough, his broom flew into the Whomping Willow and seconds later, Cedric caught the Snitch. The horrible crunching of Harry's broom could barely be heard over the roar of the wind.

* * *

Katie hurriedly ran after the rest of the team towards the hospital wing, where Harry had been taken immediately. When Madam Pomfrey finally allowed them in, Harry was just beginning to regain consciousness. 

The team crowded around his bed. Katie winced at the horror-stricken look on Harry's face when he found out they'd lost. The poor thing looked like he thought it was all his fault when it really wasn't.

"Where's Wood?" he said at last.

_Yes, where's Wood?_ Katie wondered, noticing that the captain was absent.

"Still in the showers," Fred said. "We think he's trying to drown himself."

_Drown himself?_ Katie thought frantically. _That can't be too good_... Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ron holding a bag behind his back. She knew without being told that it held the remains of Harry's faithful broomstick.

Hating to see the look on Harry's face when he saw what had happened to his broom, Katie slipped out of the hospital ward. Harry was in good hands but Oliver was a different matter.

She went to the locker rooms, through the door marked _Gryffindor._ At the division between the girls' and boys' rooms, she stopped. She could hear the water running; it was Oliver, no doubt. She waited for him, impatiently tapping her foot as time passed.

Twenty minutes later, when he _still_ didn't come out, Katie made up her mind. With only a moment's hesitation, she put her hand on the door, pushed it open, and walked inside.


	7. Confrontation

Thanks so much to: 

**Tears-of-Love-Tears-of-Hate**- yes, isn't it a bit shocking? ::grins slyly::  
**Banana-princess93**- yay a new reviewer! Thanks for reviewing! I hope you liked it...  
**IHopeForAnarchy**- bad news. Neither the link nor your email address showed up so I couldn't join. Do you think you could email me instead? That would be great...  
**Padfoot's Sidekick-** I love your review! "Uh oh..."  
**Crying Pixie**- sigh... if only we could all be Katie Bell...  
**Star of the North**- Thanks so much for the correction; I went back and fixed it. I can't believe I didn't catch that! Also, I can't wait to read your next chapter...hopefully it'll be soon!

**_Chapter 7_**

The only thing Katie could see at first was a room full of steam. A moment later, she could make out the lockers, the sinks, and eventually, the showers.

_Oh God what am I doing here?_ was her last thought as she stopped in front of the shower stall from where all the steam was coming out from.

"Oliver," she said softly. There was no answer; he probably didn't hear her over the sound of the water. "Oliver!"

He heard it this time. There was the sound of the faucet being turned off and suddenly the room was deathly quiet.

"_Katie?_"

"I know this is rather sudden but we need to talk."

"Katie, I'm in the _shower_."

"Yeah, and I'm telling you to get out."

There was a long pause from behind the curtain. "Fine," Oliver said at last. "Hand me my towel; it should be hanging right next to you."

Katie pulled the towel down and slipped it behind the curtain. A moment later, he stepped out with the towel wrapped around his waist.

It took great effort to hide the wry smile that threatened to show on her face as she realized how ironic the situation was. Here she was in the boys' locker room, standing before the great Oliver Wood in all his shirtless glory wearing only a towel, calmly about to start a conversation with him when every girl she knew would kill to just _look_ at him in this state.

"This'd better be good, Bell."

"Not _good_, but important just the same." Katie crossed her arms."Harry just woke up and found out what happened. He's a mess right now; he thinks everything's his fault, but it's not and you know that. I know you're upset and all but the best thing to do would be to visit him and reassure him that he's not the one to blame."

Oliver stared at her blankly. "Why me?"

"'Cause you're the bloody Captain, that's why!" she exclaimed."Your word is the only one he'll believe. You have to tell him that it's okay and that winning isn't everything."

"It is when your House hasn't won the Cup seven years in a row," he said bitterly.

"That's not important--"

"Yes it _is_ important!" he shouted. "You don't understand, Katie. You've never been Captain; you don't know how it feels to have never won the Cup for your House! This is the eighth year we've lost it...the _eighth!_" He turned away from her, raking his fingers through his wet hair.

"I know how much you wanted that Cup," she said patiently. "But even if the chance is gone forever, you still have one more thing to do... _to support the team_. Harry needs you right now, Oliver. The others need you... I need you. We all do. I may have never been Captain, and maybe will never be, but I _do _know that a Captain's job is to support the team, whether or not it wins or not. You should've been in the hospital ward with the rest of us."

"I couldn't," he said flatly. "I couldn't face looking at the disappointment in everyone's faces that we're out of the running for the Cup."

"But we're not," Katie said firmly. "If Ravenclaw beats Hufflepuff at the next match we've still got a good chance."

Oliver shook his head. "It's over, Katie. I'll never have the chance to win the Cup again, _ever_."

Katie couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Oh, so it's all about you now, isn't it?" she said angrily. "After everything we've all been through together! It's about the _team_, Oliver, you said so yourself before!"

He glared back at her. "I know, Katie, it's not like I don't!" he said hotly. "I'm just not ready to face everyone yet!"

"A Captain always has to be ready," she retorted. "That's one of the responsibilites you took on when you accepted the position."

"What gives you the right to tell me what to do and what not to do?"

"Because I'm your teammate and your friend, that's why," Katie said angrily. "And if you won't listen then so be it. I've had enough with you and your damn stubbornness. It's not all about the game, you moron, it's about the effort, the teamwork! You don't understand how the others are feeling right now because you had your selfish, stuck-up arse in the shower without a care in the world for anyone else. You're a_ horrible _Captain, Oliver, and you don't deserve the position!"

She slammed the door and hurried away, feeling that she never wanted to see him again.

_Shit, why am I crying? _she thought as she angrily wiped her tears away.

But she knew why. It was because she thought Oliver, of all people, would understand.

* * *

_What have I done? Being the stupid arrogant git that I am, her words started to sink in only after she left... I'm such an idiot! Why did I have to say that last bit, why? She's right; everything she said about me is right... I'm selfish and stuck-up and I got too carried away with the game...shit, she must think I'm worse than Montague..._

_God, I admire her so much. No one else would have dragged me out of the shower to knock some sense into me like she did. There's no girl out there like her... _

_And thanks to her I know what to do. I'll have to throw away my pride to do it, but I'll do what it takes..._

* * *

"What?" Katie snapped when Alicia called her name from the doorway. 

"Sheesh, don't bite my head off," Alicia grumbled. "Wood wants us. He's calling a meeting."

"Now?"

"Yes, now. Get off your lazy arse and get moving."

Katie followed Alicia to the meeting. In spite of herself, she was extremely curious...what did Oliver have to say? Apparently the rest of the team didn't know, either.

"Probably to finally announce that he's gay," George commented.

"Yeah, no straight guy could remain without a girlfriend for so long," Fred agreed. Angelina and Alicia looked at each other and giggled.

"Oh hush up, you two," Katie replied, rolling her eyes. "Everyone knows that the only reason he hasn't been dating anyone is because he's too bloody wrapped up in Quidditch."

"And sometimes let it get the best of me." Everyone spun around in their seats and saw Oliver walking in. He strode to the front of the room.

"You're all probably wondering why I've called a meeting so suddenly," he began. "And I won't beat around the bush about it. I want to apologize to all of you." He looked around at the puzzled expressions on everyone's faces, all except for Katie, who had a blank expression on her face and had her arms crossed expectantly.

"I haven't been the greatest Captain," Oliver continued. "Especially after today's game. I took off by myself without a word of encouragement to you. To sum it up, I've been stuck-up and selfish, and I'm sorry for that.  
"It wasn't until someone told me this that I realized it, how unsupportive I was being. And I can't say how much I appreciate it that that person had the guts to sayit to my face." He looked straight at Katie as he said this, and no one had any doubts that the person had been her.  
"I'll go up to the hospital ward later to Harry and give him the same spiel. Anyway, I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry and I'll do anything to make it up to you." Then he stopped speaking, waiting patiently for his team's response.

There was a pause. Everyone realized how difficult it was for their Captain to say this to them. Oliver Wood had a great sense of pride, and they knew it took him a good deal of effort to apologize, and this made them appreciate his apology even more.

The twins stood up at the same time and began clapping loudly.

"Marvelous," Fred shouted. "Never heard anything so inspirational."

"Brilliant," George said. "Couldn't have said it better myself."

The whole team laughed and Oliver grinned. The twins always did know how to break an awkward silence. One by the one, the team went up to Oliver and said all was forgiven and that they truly appreciated his apology. Eventually they all left, except for Katie, who was still sitting quietly at her seat. Oliver walked over to her chair and knelt in front of her.

"I'm sorry, Katie," he said softly. "I shouldn't have said the things I said."

The expression on her face softened. "I'm only glad you realized it," she said quietly.

He took her hands in his. "I should've said this earlier but... thank you."

Katie smiled. "I don't deserve any thanks. I was harsh and too quick to act. And what I said about you being a horrible Captain..." She shook her head. "I shouldn't have said that. You're a great Captain, Oliver, and if I ever thought so otherwise, I must've been on crack."

"You always did have an elegant way with words," he said, raising an eyebrow.

She laughed. "I do, don't I?" She leaned forward and this time, quietly, she said, "I'm sorry, Oliver. I truly am."

He looked up into her eyes with his own deep brown ones. Katie thought she'd drown in his gaze. Then he leaned closer...

"Oy, Wood!"

Oliver and Katie jumped apart and stood quickly. The Weasleys poked their heads in the doorway and grinned mischievously.

"We've been thinking..." George began.

"You said you'd do anything to make it up to us..." Fred continued.

"We thought a week of no practices would be good..."

"But then we realized you'd never do that..."

"So we decided on free butterbeers for the team next Hogsmeade weekend."

Oliver laughed. "Fine," he said. "You're right-- I wouldn't do the week of no practice thing, but I'll get the butterbeers."

"Good enough for us," they said with satisfaction. They were just about to leave when Fred turned back around and noticed Katie.

"Oy, Bell! Why the hell are you spending more time with Wood than you have to?"

Katie smiled. "We were just talking--"

"About something unimportant, most likely," George said.

"Oh good," Fred said, rubbing his hands together gleefully. "That means you can test our latest Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes products."

"Um no it's okay..." she said quickly, but the twins pounced on her.

"We insist," they said together, grabbing one arm each. Katie looked helplessly at Oliver.

"If you can escape them alive, I expect to see you at practice tomorrow," Oliver called, laughing, as the Weasleys dragged her out the room and down the hall.

* * *

When Katie --much to her relief-- escaped the twins and made it to her dorm without turning into a canary or breaking out into purple spots, she was greeted by the sight of Angelina and Alicia waiting for her, sprawled on her bed. 

"So where were _you_?" Alicia asked casually, looking up from her magazine.

"With the Weasleys," Katie replied, laughing. "I actually managed to escape alive."

"And before that?" Angelina said, raising an eyebrow.

With a slight hesitation, Katie answered, "With Wood."

There was a pause. Katie squirmed as her best friends narrowed their eyes and examined her suspiciously. The way they stared at her made her feel like a criminal.

Suddenly, with a quick cat-like motion, Angelina pounced on Katie and dragged her up on the bed while Alicia quickly shut the drapes.

"So, how long has it been?" Angelina said eagerly, her eyes dancing with mischief. Katie barely had time to process the black girl's startling question before Alicia asked one of her own.

"When's the wedding?" she said with a wink.

"Why have you been keeping this a secret from us?"

Katie's jaw dropped. "_What?_"

"Oh please," Alicia said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Don't play all innocent with us."

"It's not nice to keep your best friends in the dark, you know."

"_Especially_ when it involves you and our dear Captain."

Katie shook her head in disbelief. "This can't be about Oliver..." Her voice trailed off.

"Who else?" Angelina said, grinning. "How long have you been going out secretly? C'mon, you can tell us."

"We're _not_ going out!" Katie shouted, feeling very flustered. "We don't even like each other that way; we're just--"

"Oh please," Alicia said, rolling her eyes. "Don't give us that 'we're just friends' crap."

"You're pulling this out of thin air!" Katie cried. "You have no proof, no evidence..."

"Oh yeah?" Angelina challenged. "Here's proof for you." She began counting off her fingers. "He stares at you in practice."

"_And_ out of practice," Alicia butted in.

"When you and Alicia banged into each other that day at practice, he was fussing only about you..."

"He smiles whenever you come into the room..."

"He got you those chocolate-covered strawberries; don't try to deny it- we already saw the box _and_ the note..."

"He actually _slept _with you," Alicia said with a wink. With each thing they said, Katie's face got redder and redder.

"And you're blonde," Angelina said at last, with a satisfied nod of her head.

"What the hell does that have anything to do with it?" Katie cried out in disbelief.

Angelina shrugged. "Dunno, just felt like saying it."

"It's so obvious," Alicia said impatiently. "We just can't believe you've never noticed it before."

"Blondes," Angelina scoffed. "They don't notice anything."

"Stop it with the blonde crap!" Katie shouted. "That has nothing to do with it!"

"Just teasing, kiddo," Angelina laughed, ruffling Katie's hair.

"Katie, we just want to know..." Alicia said, serious at last. "Do _you_ like _Wood_?"

"No," Katie said firmly, although her heart had doubts. "There's nothing between us. You're just imagining things that aren't even there."


	8. A Shadow of Doubt

**Chrissy**- sorry! The gushy romance stuff will come eventually, I promise. Please be patient and wait just a few more chapters!  
**Padfoot's Sidekick**- I agree. Actually they're already half-convinced he's gay! lol!  
**Tears-of-Love-Tears-of-Hate**- glad I can make you laugh. I actually have nothing against blondes (in fact, my best friend is a blonde) but it's just so fun to tease them!  
**IHopeForAnarchy**- Yes, I do hate it when people are in denial and I personally can't wait until Katie gets over hers. PS- did you know they're selling OLIVER WOOD T-SHIRTS at Hot Topic??!! Crying Pixie told me.  
**Doodleflip**- new reviewer! YAY! Thanks so much! PS- what a cute penname!  
**JustYourAverageReviewer**- _another_ new reviewer! What you said is so nice; thank you!  
**Debz**- third new reviewer! you're so sweet- muchos gracias.  
**Star of the North**- you're _awesome!_ Not only did you email back w/ all the answers to my questions, but you're also gonna try updating by my birthday??!! I love you! I wanted to dedicate this chapter to you but it's not that great so I'll have to save your dedication for a later (better!) chapter, ok?  
**Banana-princess93**- no problem. I enjoyed your story very much. Thanks for reviewing _my_ story! PS- the website sounds cool. When will it be up?  
**Crying Pixie**- sigh...denial— that ugly thing... btw, I _have_ to get one of those T-shirts!! 

Just one more thing before I start-- you'll be getting a lot more of Oliver's POV for a while. (Just in case you were interested!) Okay, on with the show. Here's....

_**Chapter 8**_

No matter what Katie said and no matter how many times she explained it, Angelina and Alicia refused to believe that there wasn't any chemistry between her and Oliver.

"Listen— you believe what you want to believe and _we'll_ believe what _we_ want to believe," Alicia said firmly. Angelina only laughed at the thunderstruck expression on Katie's face.

Ever since, Katie felt a bit uncomfortable around Oliver. But either he noticed it and didn't say anything, or he didn't notice it at all whatsoever, because he never said a word about it to her. Instead, he jabbered on and on about the Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff game that was coming up.

"If Ravenclaw beats Hufflepuff, there's hope for us yet!" he said excitedly. Katie only rolled her eyes. Unfortunately, Oliver's boost in spirit meant more practice for the team in zero-degree rainy weather, and by the time the Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff game came around, Katie was landed in bed with a bad cold.

"Damnb Oliber and his stubid practices," she muttered. "Dow I can't breade because ob by stuffy nose."

However, she did feel better after a long nap and a cup of tea, and decided to go down to the library to make up the hours of studying she'd missed while she was sick. She was halfway done with her astrology chart when Oliver came in, breathless and excited.

"Ravenclaw _slaughtered_ Hufflepuff," he said happily, pulling out a chair across from her and sitting in it. "We might have a chance at that Cup!"

"Told you so," she muttered.

Oliver laughed. "What are you doing?" he asked, peering at her chart.

"Divination homework," she groaned. "I have to find out what the fates say about my life according to where the stars and planets are positioned."

"Why don't you make up some stuff?"

She sighed. "I tried, but it gets harder and harder to do it as the years go by, since you run out of stuff to say."

"Ask Harry and Ron for help," he replied with a grin.

"I should, shouldn't I?" she said with a smile of her own. "But seriously, I don't see how Trelawney believes all the BS they make up."

Oliver shrugged. "Yeah. Makes you wonder what possessed Dumbledore to hire a loony old bat like her."

Katie laughed loudly, making the librarian glare at her over her spectacles.

"Oops," she giggled, covering her mouth. Just then, she looked up and saw a black-haired beauty sitting three tables away. The girl glared at Katie through narrowed eyes.

"Don't look now, but..." Katie whispered to Oliver out of the corner of her mouth. "That girl over there is staring at us, probably ever since you came in the door."

"Why?" he whispered back.

"Because you have something on your nose," she said sarcastically. "No, because you're Oliver Wood."

"So?"

Katie rolled her eyes. "There's an Oliver Wood _fan club_ in this school. Did you know that?"

Oliver's jaw dropped. "No... and come to think of it, I wish you never told me."

"Sorry to ruin that for ya, hon," she laughed. "They're wherever you go. Except in the locker room; only I can go there." She smiled wickedly. Before he could come up with a reply, she stood and pulled her bookbag strap over her shoulder.

"I'm not getting any work done with you bothering me like this," she said with a laugh as he stood to follow her. "Stay here and do something useful."

"Like what?"

"Bury your nose in a book," she called over her shoulder as she left. "May I rudely remind you— you have NEWTs at the end of the year that you should be studying for."

* * *

_My eyes follow Katie as she walks away from the table. Her pretty blond hair, in its low ponytail, swings a little from side to side and her hips sway slightly as she moves... God, she's beautiful._

_"She's using you, you know."_

_I look up quickly. It's that black-haired girl who was supposedly staring at me before, and she says this as she walks purposefully past me._

_"What?" I say quickly. This must have been the reaction she wanted because she doubles back and sits in the chair Katie was sitting in two seconds ago._

_"Knew I'd get your attention that way," she smirks._

_"What are you talking about?" I say impatiently._

_"Oh, didn't you know?" she says innocently. "About Katie and Cedric?"_

_"What?!"_ _I say between clenched teeth._

_She laughs. "I guess you didn't. Katie's been liking Cedric for _ages_ now. She's only sucking up to you to get his attention. What better way to get a Captain's attention than to kiss up to one of his main rivals?"_

_Katie had giggled with Angelina and Alicia when I mentioned his name that day... What did she say about him? That he was "strong and silent."_

_"Well I'll see you later," the girl says, jumping up from her chair. "If you ever need to talk, Oliver, I'm always available. Just ask any Ravenclaw for Vivian. Everyone knows who I am." She gives me a blinding smile and leaves._

_It can't be true... Katie likes Cedric Diggory? The bastard. I hate him even more now. _

_But I always thought... __No, I must have been wrong. Katie never had feelings for me._

* * *

As Katie was walking down the hall, a hand suddenly shot out from a doorway, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her into the room. She huffed with annoyance, thinking it was Peeves, up to no good as usual. But to her surprise, and dismay, she looked up into Montague's black eyes. 

"You've been avoiding me," he whispered in her ear. "Now why would you do a thing like that?"

"Let go of me, you jerk," Katie said angrily, yanking her wrist out of his grasp.

"Temper, temper," he sneered in that oily voice. "You need someone to teach you how to take care of that, Katie... may I volunteer my services?"

"No, I can handle it myself," she said haughtily. "Now let go of me before I hurt you."

"Ooh, I'm so scared...." he sneered. "Katie, why do you hate me so much? Is there any room in your heart for me?"

It would have been a touching thing to say if it had been anyone but Montague saying it.

Katie scoffed. "Is there any room in your head for another brain?" she retorted. "'Cause God knows you need it."

"Or is your heart taken by another?" he continued, ignoring her last statement. "Say... Oliver Wood, perhaps?"

Katie looked at him sharply. "What?"

Montague smiled slyly. "May I remind you, Miss Bell," he said snidely, "that the one last thing a guy wants before leaving school is to get laid... and he looked pretty close to getting that from you in his sleeping bag on Halloween night."

Katie reached up and smacked him hard across the face. "Don't you ever say that to me again," she seethed angrily. "Wood is the last person in the world who would even _think_ of doing that. He'd _never_ take advantage of me that way."

"Why not?" Montague replied sarcastically. "What makes you think the great Oliver Wood wouldn't want to take advantage of a silly fifteen-year-old girl who's already half-infatuated with him?"

"I'm not half_-infatuated_," she retorted. "And I'm not 'silly.' Besides, he'd never do it because he—" Katie's voice broke off abruptly. She couldn't finish her sentence.

"Yes?" he sneered. "Because he...?"

"Because he cares about me," she said hollowly.

Montague smiled smugly. "I knew that's what you thought. But you know what? He's—"

SMACK

Katie hit him across the face again. "Shut up," she hissed. "Just shut up. Oliver's not a sex-crazy maniac. He's honorable and loyal and honest, which can't exactly be said about you."

Montague rubbed at the red mark on his face and glared at her. "Think whatever you like about him, then; I don't care," he snapped. "What I _do_ care about is that you think he actually likes you... think about it, Katie. What makes you think a seventeen-year-old could care about an insignificant fifteen-year-old girl like you?"

"This is stupid," Katie retorted, trying not to let him see how hurt she was. Montague would never get the better of her, never. "I'm leaving."

Montague grabbed her and pulled her closer. "You're wasting time on someone who'll never return your affection," he murmured into her ear. "Don't do something stupid like that..." He leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers.

Katie reached quickly into her robe and pulled out her wand. Pushing him away from her, she held her wand out and muttered a Jelly-Legs Jinx spell. Instantly, Montague's legs wobbled and he crashed to the floor.

"I wouldn't try that again if I were you," Katie hissed dangerously, prodding him with her foot.

"He's using you," he spat, "that dirty bastard is—"

"_Silencio!"_ Katie shouted. Montague opened his mouth but not a sound came out of it. Katie smiled with satisfaction.

"Much better," she said smugly. "Now, listen to me, you brainless dolt. Oliver's not making any sexual advances toward me and he never will. So get your mind out of the gutter and stop being so hypocritical— _you're_ the one who wants what you're accusing him of trying to get...

"And don't ever touch me again or I'll hex you even worse," she threatened. "'Cause there's more where that came from. I'm not friends with the Weasleys for nothing."

Katie slammed the door and left.

_That stupid git, _she thought as she left. _He doesn't know what he's talking about_.

She knew Montague was wrong--_very_ wrong--about Oliver wanting to take advantage of her. She knew he'd never do that. But the part about Oliver not wanting an "insignificant fifteen-year-old girl" like her... That part was believable.

_Don't listen to what Montague says! _she thought furiously. _You have the right to think for yourself..._

But Katie couldn't help it, couldn't stop the shadow of doubt that was creeping into her mind. Because she knew something else that made her even more vulnerable to what Montague said...

She was falling for Oliver.


	9. Christmas

**IHopeForAnarchy**- oh no you're sick? Hope you feel better… Have a butterbeer! PS- you got the T-shirt?! (screams and looks green with envy) Lucky you! But I forgive you cuz you said the last chapter is even better than the shirt. (yay!) Aw you're so nice… could anyone be any sweeter? :)  
**bubbleishness**- lol you're so cute. But I don't blame you cuz I hate them too.  
**Chrissy**- yeah I know they're such prats. But they'll get what they deserve, trust me.  
**banana-princess93**- your review is so sweet. I'm so glad you like how things are turning out. Thanks so much!  
**JustYourAverageReviewer**- gracias! I feel so loved…  
**Padfoot's Sidekick**- yes I know, I know. Please don't get too impatient; I _promise_ he'll make a move soon. You know what? I'll even tell you _when _it'll happen, but only if you promise not to give up on this story out of frustration! It'll be Chapter 12, give or take a chapter. Now that I've said that, please keep reading!  
**Crying Pixie**- I know, I'm sorry the "evil Ravenclaw girl" has to be in that house, cuz I like that house too. But oh well. Anyway, thanks for the review!  
**Star of the North**- SCREAM! I love you! thanks again for the birthday chapter! It was _so so so _nice of you! Anyway, I'm saving your dedication for Chapter 12, which, as I told Padfoot's Sidekick, will be _the_ chapter, if you know what I mean. Since that will be really special, I want to dedicate that to you. I hope you don't mind the wait, since it might be a while before I update that chapter. Email me if you have any objections for whatever reason, ok?  
**Schnebz-** you're so funny! "And write more about this nasty Vivian. I like her, even if she's a bitch." lol- interesting reaction. Well here's what you wanted—more about the bitch in this chapter!  
**Miss Court****-A-Doo**- thanks so much! I'm moved to tears by your review. lol!  
**TooSweet4Words-** muchos gracias! I tried to update ASAP.  
**Gemm'n2590**- I know exactly what you mean. _Stupid school!!_ (deep breath…) whew. Anyway, thanks for the review!

Whew that's a big chunk of replies (to your reviews)! But that's okay; you deserve it. Anyway, back to the story. This is a rather long chapter but since I haven't written in a while, I feel I owe it to you all. Enjoy!

**_Chapter 9 _**

A few weeks later, Katie was walking down the hall when she heard someone calling her name. She turned around and saw, much to her surprise, Cedric Diggory running toward her.

"Katie!" he said as he reached her, breathless from his run down the long hall.

Katie smiled at him. "Hi Cedric, what's up?"

"I've been looking all over for Wood," he said. "But since I can't find him, and my teammates will have my head if I'm late for practice, would you please give him a message for me?"

Katie looked at him curiously. "Sure. What is it?"

Cedric grinned. "Actually, I'm not supposed to know," he said, lowering his voice. "But since I do, it's only fair to pass the information along..."

He paused and looked around to make sure no one could overhear them. When he was satisfied that they were out of hearing range, he whispered, "I heard Professor McGonagall and Madame Hooch talking. Someone sent them word that there might– _might_, mind you–be a scout coming to Hogwarts looking for potential players…for Puddlemere United."

Katie's eyes grew wide. "_Puddlemere United?_" she gasped. "That's a professional Quidditch team!"

"Exactly." His grin stretched from ear to ear. "There's a rumor that they're looking for backup players. They might show up _any _time, Katie. At games, practices… whenever they feel like it. I just wanted to let Wood know so he'll be prepared."

Katie beamed. "No way!" she exclaimed. "This is _wonderful_. Thanks so much for sharing this; it's so nice of you!"

"It's nothing, really," Cedric said, coloring slightly. "I feel I owe it to Wood, especially since I feel so bad about that first game... I still think there should've been a rematch."

"Oh don't worry about it," Katie said quickly. "Oh gosh, Oliver'll be so psyched he won't know what hit him!"

Cedric smiled. "So you'll tell him for me?"

"Definitely. In fact, I'll go look for him right now." Katie waved goodbye to Cedric and hurried down the hall. She finally found Oliver in the library. He was just getting up from the table when she ran to him and flung her arms around him.

"I have _great_ news!" she cried, ignoring the "Shh!" from the librarian, who glared at her. "You won't believe this, Oliver! Cedric Diggory asked me to—"

"That's nice," he said dully before she could finish. "I bet you're happy."

"Yes…" she said slowly, a bit confused. "I'm ecstatic, aren't you?"

"Just jumping for joy," he answered dryly, picking up his books. He walked away without another word.

Katie stared at his back as he slammed the door and left.

_What the hell was that?_ she wondered.

* * *

_It was rude of me to interrupt her and leave, but I couldn't help it. Hearing the words from her lips would have hurt me even more than leaving her like that. I could tell by her expression what had happened— Diggory had asked her out. I guess I should be happy for them but I'm not. I hate Diggory, the bastard. _

_Then I do something I immediately regret afterwards. I see Cho walking by and I call out her name. She smiles at me. _

_"Hey Oliver, what's up?" _

_I ask her if she knows Vivian. When Cho hears the name, her smiles fades into a frown. _

_"Yeah I know her, although I'd rather not," she answers. "But I'll tell her you asked for her, even though I have no idea why you'd associate with the likes of _her_." _

_As Cho walks away, I want to bang my head against the wall. Why the hell did I just do that? I realized just now that I'm being an idiotic jealous bastard… _

_But it's too late. Vivian finds me in the hall later and smiles when she sees me. _

_"Hey," she coos, putting a hand on my arm. I want to jerk my arm away but I don't want to be rude. "You asked for me?" _

_"Yeah," I admit reluctantly. __"_

_"Katie's giving you a tough time, huh?" Vivian says softly. Before I can answer, she puts her arms around my neck. "I'll help you," she purrs. "I'll make you forget all about that Katie Bell, I promise. We'll have _so_ much fun at Hogsmeade next weekend, right?" _

_Shit. I'd forgotten all about the Hogsmeade trip that's coming up. It's the last one before school closes for Christmas, and the last person I want to spend it with is the girl who's standing before me now. _

_"Actually, um—" I start to say. _

_"Great!" Vivian says happily, standing on her tiptoes to kiss my cheek. "I'll see you then, luv." _

_What have I gotten myself into? _

_

* * *

_

"Deck the halls with boughs of holly," Angelina sang loudly.

"Falalalala lalalala," Katie and Alicia chorused together.

The girls looked at each other and laughed. The festive Christmas mood was contagious. There was fake snow falling from the ceiling in the Great Hall and real snow falling from the sky outside. Professor Flitwick had put up his traditional decorations of real fairies. Everyone had joyous smiles on their faces as they thought of the holidays ahead. Except for Filch, that is. He was grumbling to himself more than ever as he mopped up the snow that the students brought in when they trekked inside.

"How's this?" Katie asked, holding up a soft white scarf.

"Perfect," Angelina answered.

"Don't forget earrings!" came Alicia's muffled voice from under her bed. (She was looking for her gloves.)

Katie smiled. She put on her favorite diamond chandelier earrings and fluffed out her long blonde hair, which she was wearing loose today. Satisfied with her reflection in the mirror, she bounced toward the door.

"C'mon, c'mon we can't be late!" she yelled.

There was a loud _bump_ as Alicia crashed her head against the bottom of the bed.

"Ow!"

* * *

_"Do you like this?" Vivian asks, holding out a blue sweater. I nod curtly and turn away impatiently. After two hours of clothes shopping with her, my head is spinning with images of things she bought: tops, pants, hats, jewelry, and to my mortification and disgust, lingerie. I can't believe this girl. _

_"Okay we're done here," Vivian says happily after she finishes making her purchases. "Now how about that hat shop across the street?" _

_"No," I say firmly. _

_"Oh okay. I didn't want to go there anyway… How about that new dress shop down the—" _

_"NO!" I shout. Several people in the street turn their heads to look but I don't care. Vivian's eyes grow wide. "I'm sick of being dragged from shop to shop with things that I'm not even interested in buying. I'm going where _I _want to go now." _

_I angrily storm down the street. To my annoyance, she runs after me. _

_"Oliver!" she cries. "Oliver, where are you going? You have to help me with my bags!" _

_I don't reply. Instead, I walk even faster. I turn the corner and, to my relief, I see the very people who can save my life right now. _

_

* * *

_

"Finally," Fred groaned when the girls stepped out of the last shop. "I don't understand why girls take forever to shop."

"This is _Christmas shopping_, Fred," said Angelina. "This is important."

"And I'm not?" he pouted. "You've been neglecting me for hours."

"Oh sod off, you prat," Angelina laughed, throwing a handful of snow at him.

"Hey!" he shouted as she giggled and ran away. "You'll pay for that!" He went after her in hot pursuit.

Katie and Alicia looked at each other and giggled. Just then, George looked past them at someone and shouted, "Oy! Where've you been all this time?"

Still laughing at Angelina and Fred, Katie turned around to see who George had shouted at. Her smile faded when she saw who it was… Oliver. And a girl was running after him.

Oliver stopped in his tracks when he saw Katie. For a long moment they stood still with their eyes locked on each other.

If Katie had known why he couldn't take his eyes off her, she would have blushed crimson. He was thinking how beautiful she looked, with her golden hair blowing in the wind and glowing like a halo from the light of a nearby streetlamp. Her cheeks were rosy from the cold, and pretty diamond earrings twinkled like stars on either side of her face. Snowflakes rested lightly on her hair and eyelashes, and the crimson rose that George had put in her hair earlier accented her lovely features. She was the most beautiful vision Oliver had ever seen.

But Katie didn't know what he was thinking. The only thing she knew was that Oliver was with a girl, the one who'd been glaring at her in the library. Whoever the girl was, she was beautiful. Katie's heart sank. How could she compete with beauty like that?

"Wood, you promised to buy butterbeers!" George yelled, shattering the tension that hung in the air. Now out of her trance, Katie looked away quickly.

Oliver shook his head, as if he was just coming back to his senses. "What?" he asked George, who raised an eyebrow. "Oh! Right. I'm still up to it. Want to go to The Three Broomsticks now?"

"Definitely." George motioned to Fred and Angelina, who were engrossed in a playful snowball fight.

"I'll come with you," Vivian piped up. She squeezed Oliver's arm and beamed at him. "I've always wanted to meet your friends."

"Well, actually," George cut in, seeing the helpless look on Oliver' face. "It's more of a team thing."

"Are you saying you don't want me to come with you?" Vivian pouted.

"Um well yeah," George said bluntly. Alicia looked like she was having difficulty smothering a giggle.

"Huh!" Vivian huffed. "Fine." She looked up at Oliver adoringly and cooed, "I'll see you later, luv."

George made an odd coughing noise, while Oliver tried not to gag. As the group walked—no, hurried—to The Three Broomsticks, Vivian reached out and grabbed Katie'sarm.

"I need to talk to you," she said, pulling Katie to the side.

"What do you want?" Katie asked impatiently.

"You better watch yourself while I'm gone," Vivian hissed. "If I find out that you put your filthy paws on my boyfriend, I'll rip your head off."

Katie raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? How pleasant," she said sarcastically. "I'm sure you really would."

Vivian tightened her grip on Katie's arm. "Just try me," she snarled.

Katie wondered what Oliver saw in this girl. Yes, she was very beautiful, but in moments like these you could tell how truly ugly Vivian was.

"You can't tell me what to do and what not to do," Katie replied coolly. "You can't control my life or Oliver's."

"You have a lot of nerve for a little kid," Vivian said, her eyes narrowing.

Katie's eyes flashed dangerously as she yanked her arm out of Vivian's grasp. "I may be a lot of things," she said icily, "but a little kid isn't one of them. And never try to tell me what to do. _Never_."

"You're just jealous," Vivian retorted.

"Of what?" Katie laughed. "Of _you?_" She calmly turned around and walked away.

As she left, Vivian spat, "You'll pay for that, Katie Bell. You'll _pay_."

But Katie walked on without even a backward glance.

* * *

_I've been trying to deny it for a while now, but it's time to admit the truth to myself. It took me until that moment to realize it, but I think I must have half-known it all along… _

_I love her. I can't hide it from myself any longer. I love Katie Bell. And I didn't know it until just a few minutes ago, when she was under the streetlamp, looking like some kind of angel who's too pure and beautiful to belong on Earth… _

_Oh God, I love her. The feeling's so intense I can't believe no one notices the sudden change in me. Does she know? I take a quick glance at her where she's sitting between Angelina and Alicia across the table. I watch her as she takes a sip from her mug of butterbeer. She looks tense and uptight, the way she does when something has just upset her. I try to catch her eye but she refuses to look at me. _

_It's just my luck when we walk outside and I see Vivian waiting for me. That girl has no life. _

_"Oliver," she cooes, taking my arm. "I missed you." _

_We've been apart for, um, only twenty minutes. _

_"I want to talk to you," she says. I roll my eyes at Fred and George (who are laughing at me), as she pulls me into a quiet side street. As soon as we're out of side, she wraps her arms around my neck. _

_"You've never kissed me before, did you know that?" she whispers into my ear. _

_Yeah, all too well. I don't _want_ to kiss you! The only girl I want to kiss is— _

_"You're my one and only, Oliver," she murmurs, leaning closer. I step back quickly. _

_"Well, you're not mine," I reply, rather harshly. Her eyebrows shoot up. _

_"What did you just say?" _

_"I don't like you, Vivian. I never have. Just give it up, okay?" I turn quickly and walk away, and as I do, Vivian screams wildly with rage._

_"You don't know what you're throwing away, Oliver Wood!" she shrieks. "No one walks away from me, no one!!"

* * *

_

Needless to say, Katie was relieved to go home for Christmas. She loved Hogwarts, but her conflicting emotions were too much to bear. 

On Christmas morning, she woke up early and went downstairs. She stopped in her tracks in the living room.

"_Lizzy!_" she squealed. Her older sister, Elizabeth, smiled broadly and got up from the couch, opening her arms for a hug and they embraced. "When did you get back from New York?"

"Just last night," she replied. "But I didn't want to wake you up."

"Well, Happy Christmas, Lizzy," Katie smiled.

"_Merry _Christmas," Elizabeth said with a laugh. "That's what they say back in the States… oh wow, Katie," she said, holding her younger sister out at arm's length. "You look fantastic."

"Thanks," Katie said, blushing.

"I bet all the boys are crazy about you. In fact, your owl brought this in earlier this morning…" Elizabeth handed Katie a silver jewelry box. Feeling color rush into her cheeks, Katie took it and quickly stuffed it into the pocket of her bathrobe.

"Probably from just a friend, you know," she muttered.

Elizabeth gave her a _look_. "Uh huh," she said, raising an eyebrow. "Well I'm going to help Mum in the kitchen. Go open your presents."

In addition to the gifts Katie got from her family, she received a box of delicious home-made brownies from Angelina and a pretty photo album from Alicia. She also got a gift from the Weasley twins, whose note made her laugh.

_To our favorite blond chum, _

_Here's a box of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes that haven't been put on the market yet. (Aren't you lucky?) Always keep a handful of 'em handy in your pocket in case you meet someone annoying. Like Percy. (Ahem cough choke wheeze chortle…)  
Anyway, Happy Christmas. Don't have _too _much fun with these! _

--_Fred and George, aka Gred and Forge _

Katie examined the contents of the box. There were pills of all shapes and sizes, fake wands, and delicious-looking, yet deceiving candies that would do horrible things to you. Each had a label explaining what it did. One of her favorites was a pink lollipop that, when sucked on, instantly dressed the person in a frilly pink tutu and a curly blond wig. Just for the fun of it, she took the Weasleys' advice and always had a few of the items in her pocket from then on.

Suddenly, she remembered the silver box in her pocket. She took it out and opened the lid slowly. It was a beautiful silver charm bracelet, with delicate charms of a broom, a Quaffle, a K for her first name, and a tiny Christmas bell, perhaps for her last name. There was room for her to add her own charms.

Later, Katie wouldn't be able to describe the overwhelming emotions she was feeling right now. She clenched her hand into a fist around the bracelet and left the living room. As she ran up the stairs to her bedroom, her nails dug harder into the skin of her palm. When she reached her room, she slammed the door shut and leaned against it, breathing hard.

"Montague," she spat, looking at the bracelet once more. "If he thinks he can buy me with a piece of crappy jewelry, he's damn wrong."

With a frustrated scream, she hurled the bracelet across the room, where it hit the opposite wall and fell into a pile of clothes below.

* * *

A/N: so how did you like it? In case you didn't read it in the A/N at the top-- "_the_ chapter" (when they _finally_ get together) will be Chapter 12, I think. So be patient 'til then! 


	10. The Mixup

I'm so sorry for taking such a long time updating. I was overwhelmed with oodles (eek! Don't you _love_ that word?) of homework and tests and all that other good stuff (ugh. gag me.) Anyway, I'm afraid I don't have time to thank each person like usual, so this'll have to be quick.

Muchos gracias to: **Padfoot's Sidekick, justdreem, Schnebz, Gemm'n2590, mello80, Crying Pixie, swimgirl, banana-princess93, Star of the North, TooSweet4Words, Tears-of-Love-Tears-of-Hate, IHopeForAnarchy, JustYourAverageReviewer, Miss Court-A-Doo**, and **Chrissy**. (Whew, what a mouthful!)

Okay, just warning you—this chapter's a bit confusing at first. (Hint #1: the title of the chapter should help. Hint #2: Katie and Oliver are in _different places. _Now, remember that and don't get too lost.) Don't worry; you'll get the gist of it by the end. (I hope) Also, I went back and fixed some of the mistakes in my earlier chapters, so if you're insane enough to go back and read the whole thing again, you'll see that it makes a lot more sense. But I didn't make any changes to the plot, so everything's still the same.

One more thing before I shut up— why does everyone think the bracelet's from Oliver? Don't you trust me! Also, I'm sorry for my evilness about the "Katie-and-Oliver-finally-get-together chapter"… Chapter 12 _does_ seem a long way off, doesn't it? (bats eyelashes innocently)

**_Chapter 10 _**

"Ah… it's good to be back." Alicia flopped down on her bed and sighed contently.

"God bless Hogwarts!" Angelina yelled, throwing her arms around Katie and giving her a big smacking kiss on the cheek.

"Yuck!" Katie squealed, making a show of wiping her cheek. "Save the kisses for Fred, Angie."

"Hey!"

"She's got a point, you know," Alicia told Angelina. Then she said, "Did you guys hear about Harry's Firebolt?"

Katie looked startled, but Angelina laughed. "Yeah right, he has a Firebolt. A twelve-year-old... afford the best, most expensive broom in the world? Exactly how gullible do you think we are?"

"I'm not kidding," Alicia replied seriously. "He got a Firebolt for Christmas."

"No way!" Katie exclaimed. "From who?"

"That's the problem. He doesn't know."

"I still think you're bluffing," Angelina said, looking skeptical.

"I'm dead serious," Alicia replied. "Ask anyone, especially Professor McGonagall, since she's the one who took it away from him."

"_What!_" Katie and Angelina screamed together.

"Why?" Angelina shrieked.

"Do you know what we could _do_ with a Firebolt on the field?" Katie moaned, smacking her forehead. "Harry could catch the Snitch in literally two seconds!"

Alicia frowned. "For some reason, McGonagall thinks it might be Sirius Black who sent it to Harry. She and Professor Flitwick are looking for any curses or jinxes on the broom that could hurt him."

"Sirius Black, my ass," Angelina scoffed. "Why the hell would a convicted murderer send Harry the most expensive broom in the world?"

"Who knows?" Alicia replied, shrugging.

"I bet Oliver's pissed at Professor McGonagall," Katie said.

"Is that why he looked like he had something stuck up his ass earlier?" Angelina wondered.

"He did _not!_" Katie protested, indignant at the very thought of Oliver looking like he "had something stuck up his ass."

"Did so!" Angelina retorted.

"Did not!"

"Did so!"

"Did not!"

"Did—"

"SHUT UP!" Alicia screamed. Katie and Angelina shut their mouths and looked at Alicia. She smiled innocently and went on to say very sweetly, "Now. About Oliver…"

"Yes, about Oliver…" Angelina repeated, looking pointedly at Katie.

"Katie, since you mentioned that you didn't have any New Year's resolutions, I'll help you," Alicia said calmly.

"What is it?" Katie said warily.

Alicia leaned closer to Katie until their noses were barely an inch apart. "Get that bitch away from Oliver."

Katie's eyes widened. "What?"

"Oh… that Vivian girl," Angelina said, catching on to what Alicia was saying. "She's like a mosquito. No matter how many times you smack it, it comes back."

"She's trying to steal Oliver from you," Alicia added. "You have to do something about it."

"So what am I supposed to do? Gag her, tie her up and throw her in the basement?" Katie said sarcastically.

"Not a bad idea…" Angelina said, looking thoughtful.

"Look, just give up the idea of Oliver and me getting together, okay?" Katie said impatiently, sliding off the bed and moving towards the door. "It's never going to happen. It was over before it even began."

"Katie, stop fooling yourself," Alicia said. "Have you even thought about talking to Oliver?"

But Katie didn't answer. She'd already left.

**

* * *

**

Katie walked out of Gryffindor Tower, feeling extremely flustered. As she turned a corner, she ran into the last person she wanted to see at the moment.

"Katie," said Oliver, looking relieved. "I've been looking for you forever."

"Oh. Why?" Katie said, looking puzzled.

"I have to tell you something," he said, taking her hand roughly and pulling her into a nearby closet. Katie was so startled by his sudden action that she couldn't speak.

Oliver closed the door and flicked on the light. Suddenly, he grabbed Katie and kissed her.

**

* * *

**_  
"Oliver, wait up!"_

_I turn around and see Katie walking towards me. I smile with pleasure at the sight of her. _

_"Hey, Katie. What's up?" _

_She smiles at me sweetly and says, "Can I talk to you for a sec?" _

_"Sure." I follow her into an empty classroom. "What is it?" _

_"I have to confess…" she says, biting her bottom lip nervously. "Well, it's just that… I love you, Oliver. And I was wondering—hoping, actually—if you…" Her voice trails off. _

_My heart skips a beat. "If I love you too?" I finish for her. She nods and blushes. "Yeah, I do," I reply, grinning. "I was going to tell you, but I guess you beat me to it." _

_She smiles. "I love you," she whispers, putting her arms around my neck. She reaches up and puts her lips on mine. _

**

* * *

**

Katie squirmed out of Oliver's arms. "Oliver!" she gasped.

"I love you, Katie," he said hoarsely. "I should have told you before, but…"

Katie's breath caught in her throat. "Oh, Oliver…" she whispered.

Oliver took her back in her arms and kissed her. She kissed him back passionately, putting her arms around his neck. She'd never felt so surprised, or happy.

The kiss deepened and his hands began to explore her body. She shivered as his lips trailed down her neck, nudging her skin softly. Then, at the same time, his tongue slipped into her mouth and his hands began unfastening her robe. Katie gasped as he began pulling her robe off.

"Oliver," she whispered, feeling startled and almost frightened. Why was he moving so fast?

He didn't stop. Instead, his hands went into her robe and slipped under the shirt she wore underneath. He groaned when his fingers met her bare skin and he began unfastening her bra.

Katie, truly frightened now, pushed him away roughly and pulled her robe back on. She looked closely at him and her pulse began to race.

"Bloody hell," she whispered, her eyes growing wide. "You're not Oliver." **

* * *

**

_I wrap my arms around her and hold her tight. Suddenly her kiss becomes more urgent. She slips her hands into the front of my robe and her fingers run up my chest, and frankly, I'm a bit surprised. __Then she removes her hands and I wait cautiously for her next move. Nothing could've prepared me for what she does next. She pulls away from me slightly and moves her hands to the front of her robe. Slowly, she unfastens it and slips out of it. The robe falls to the floor._

_"You want me, don't you, Oliver?" she purrs, kissing me again and trying to take my robe off. I push her away. _

_"Katie, you're not acting like yourself at all," I say warily. "This is so…" _

_"Unexpected?" she says, stepping forward and leaning against me once more. "I've been wanting to do this for a long time, Oliver, and I know you do too. Don't deny this to your one and only." _

_Now_ that_ is something Katie would never say. And the words "your one and only" sound oddly familiar… _

_"If it weren't so far-fetched, I'd say you were Vivian," I say, raising an eyebrow. _

_Katie laughs nervously. "Vivian? Oh, her… But let's not think about her. Think about how much you want _me…_" She pulls me down for another kiss._

_I push her away once more. "No," I say firmly. "I don't know what's wrong with you, Katie. I can't think right now; I need to be by myself." _

_As I wrench my arms out of her grasp, she curses. I'm right at the door when I hear her mutter under her breath, "The stupid plan's not working." _

_I turn around quickly. _"What!" **

* * *

**

"Montague," Katie spat hatefully. "How much did you have to pay to get someone to make a Polyjuice Potion for you? Because I know you don't have half the brains it takes to make it yourself."

Oliver—Montague, rather—gaped at her. His eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped.

"I thought so," Katie said in a hard voice. "No one else would stoop so low to get what they wanted. You're _sick_, Montague."

"So what if I am?" Montague replied, quickly regaining his senses. "It was rather clever, wasn't it?" He grinned at her.

Katie had never felt so revolted and indignant. How dare he, that brainless oafish dolt, take the form of Oliver's gorgeous body?

"You know what?" she snapped. "I'm sick and tired of this. Sick and tired of being stalked, sick and tired of watching out for you at every corner, sick and tired of letting you get the better of me. So I'm going to do what I should've done long ago." Katie clenched her hand into a tight fist and swung her hand back, ready to give Montague a blow in the face he'd never forget.

At that moment, Oliver opened the door just in time to see Katie's fist land solidly into the face of an exact duplicate of himself. 


	11. Confession

**Tears-of-Love-Tears-of-Hate**- sorry for the confusion. I tried my best!  
**Schnebz**- teehee. Yes I do suppose it's a funny image. :)  
**Crying Pixie-** lol thank you; I try to end them as excitingly and interestingly and randomly and all the other "ly" words as possible. And yes, Vivian was in on the scheme too. I'll explain it all in this chappie.  
**banana-princess93**- thanx so much! It was hard thinking of something that was different from all the other Katie-Oliver stories out there, and then I came up with this. And sorry for the scare—you weren't the only one who was freaked out at first, thinking it was Oliver in the closet!  
**JustYourAverageReviewer**- so glad you managed to understand. I read it through once after posting it and I realized just how confusing it was. But at least you got it. Congrats!  
**mello80**- I commend you for reading all nineteen chapters of my other story. I'm surprised you didn't go blind sitting in front of the computer so long! Anyway, thanks very much for reviewing. I promise I'll read your story as soon as I have time. Also, mySN is Xxcannelle06xX. IM me whenever, k?  
**IHopeForAnarchy**- hahaha! I'm glad you realized I'd never be cruel enough to make Oliver a rapist! And I sympathize with you about that weird Asian girl thing—people call me racist even though _I'm_ Asian too. Weirdos! Anyway, thanks for the review. The hook-up will be next chapter, I promise!  
**Gemm'n2590**- ooh thankee thankee thankee! So glad you liked it! And I'm _very_ glad you could understand that confusing mess. If I weren't the author, I don't think I'd get it at all.  
**Doodleflip**- thank you! I hope this chapter is satisfactory.  
**TooSweetForWords- **muchos gracias! Here's the update—finally!  
**Star of the North**- thanks! And I'm so glad you updated;your new chapter's so exciting. I g2g review it after I finish this…  
**ilovecaptainjacks**- you were so incredibly sweet for reviewing almost every chapter. Hugs and kisses! Btw- your story's awesome.  
**Chrissy**- i hope you didn't die during my update lag! Hope this satisfies your impatience…  
**Padfoot's Sidekick**- thank you! I hope you like this one.  
**Miss Court-A-Doo**- yes, it is quite dramatic, isn't it? It almost seems unrealistic; it's so bizarre. But whatever; at least you like it. Thanks for your review!  
**bubbleishness**- now, now, violence is not the answer; you must not push people into blenders, no matter how stupid, arrogant, disgusting, and revolting they are. lol! Actually I don't mind. Throw him into a guillotine for all I care! Anyway, thanks so much for reviewing.  
**swimgirl**- merci beaucoup! I do hope you'll like this chapter just as much.

Blimey that's a LONG list of replies! But it was _so _worth it to see all your reviews; thanks so much for that. Also, Vivian _was_ in on the plot with Montague. I'm sorry I wasn't very clear in the last chappie; a few people said they were lost at first, and I don't blame you. This chappie will answer all your questions.

Just a quick heads-up: I'm warning you—this chapter is _very CORNY!_ Please bear with me and don't gag or throw up your dinner. Hey, at least I warned you, right?

By the way, I bumped the rating up to PG-13, just in case. Also, because of the shortness of the last chapter, this one will be long to make up for it, capeesh?

**_Chapter 11_ **

There was a sickening _crunch _as Katie's fist landed solidly in Montague's nose. He cried out and cursed, clutching his nose and yelping in pain. But Katie and Oliver paid him no mind.

"Katie," Oliver said, stunned.

"Oliver," Katie breathed, her eyes widening. How did he always manage to find her whenever she was in trouble?

"I was so worried," he began, stepping forward.

Just then, Montague moved quickly and grabbed Katie from behind. Obviously his quickly-growing anger helped him to ignore the pain in his nose. He pulled his wand out of his pocket and held it threateningly to Katie's neck.

"Don't make me do it," he growled menacingly at Oliver as Katie struggled. "Every Slytherin knows how to hurt someone… badly."

Oliver froze. "Don't move, Katie," he said quietly. She stopped struggling immediately.

"Now, Ollie," Montague said in a sickly sweet voice. "I want you to turn your arse around and leave. _Now_."

"Why are you doing this?" Oliver hissed. "What has Katie ever done to you?"

"Oliver, don't," Katie warned.

"Yes, listen to the lady," Montague said, still in that horrible voice. He saw the helpless look in Oliver's eyes and laughed. "Aw. The great Oliver Wood can't do anything… for once. How does it make you feel, Wood?" He erupted into snorts of laughter.

It was Katie's chance. While Montague was distracted momentarily, she jammed her elbow into his stomach. Montague let out an "_Oof!_" and she spun around, punching him again and kneeing him in the groin.

"Argh!" he shouted, groaning in pain. Katie pulled out her wand and pointed it at Montague, but Oliver pulled her to the side and took over before she could finish.

Katie winced as Oliver slammed Montague against the wall. She'd never seen him so angry, not even when Snape took off twenty points from Gryffindor when Oliver was three minutes late to class.

"Oliver, stop!" she cried furiously, pulling at his arms as Montague's head crashed into the wall. The Slytherin slid to the floor and became unconscious.

It was suddenly quiet. Oliver's eyes widened and he looked down at his hands. Then he looked over at Montague. He looked stunned, as if unable to believe that he was capable of such violence.

"You shouldn't have done that," Katie said angrily, shoving her wand into her pocket. As she did so, her hand brushed against a wrapped candy. She pulled it out and recognized it as one of her favorite Weasley Wheeze products that she'd gotten for Christmas.

A smirk spread across her face, which startled Oliver. Katie, paying no attention to his surprise, deftly unwrapped the lollipop and bent down over Montague. Oliver couldn't see what she did, but there was a loud POP and a burst of hot pink sparks.

As Katie stepped back to survey her work with grim satisfaction, Oliver was horrified to see Montague's sudden transformation. Whatever spell had been in the lollipop had apparently counteracted on the Polyjuice Potion, which had been beginning to wear off anyway. Oliver, appalled by the tight pink tutu and blond wig that the Slytherin was suddenly wearing, was greatly relieved to see that Montague no longer looked like him. Under the frilly pink lace and the bouncy yellow curls, the face was unmistakably Montague's.

Just then, they heard the tread of footsteps in the hall, and spun around fearfully to see who it was.

_Please don't make it be Professor McGonagall or Snape…_ Katie prayed fervently.

The footsteps came closer as the mystery person came around the corner. When Katie saw who it was, she almost laughed even though she was close to tears. It was Colin Creevey, the little second-year who was obsessed with Harry.

Katie stepped sideways quickly to block his view of the closet's interior, hoping he didn't see what was inside. "Hi Colin," she said with all the friendliness she could muster. "Could you do me a huge favor?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Um…" he said uncertainly. "It depends…"

"It would be great if you could lend me your camera for two seconds."

Colin's hand flew unconsciously to the mechanism that hung around his neck. He looked horrified, as if Katie had just asked him to give up his heart for a ritual sacrifice to the heathen gods.

"My…_camera?_" he squeaked, clutching the camera possessively.

"Yes. You see, Harry's been a bit down in the dumps lately 'cause of all his homework and stuff, you know? So I thought I could cheer him up with a funny picture. It'll get his mind off a lot of things, and he'll love it, trust me."

"This is for Harry?" Colin squealed, his face brightening considerably.

"Well…" Katie didn't want to lie, but she had to stretch the truth a little. "It's for the team, actually. It'll make everyone feel a lot better, especially Harry, and it'll be just the thing he needs to get his mind off school for a while. I'm sure he'd appreciate it so much if I told him I used your camera."

"Here," Colin said eagerly. He couldn't take the camera off his neck fast enough. Katie felt a bit guilty for taking advantage of him like that, but she smiled gratefully and took it anyway.

"Thanks, you're a doll," she said sweetly. "It'll take all of two seconds, I promise." She quickly shut the closetdoor behind her and Oliver.

"What the hell are you doing?" Oliver hissed, but she ignored him, and rearranged Montague into a ridiculous position instead. She aimed the camera carefully and took two pictures of him.

"Thanks, Colin," she said as she came out a moment later, being very careful not to let him see Montague. "When will the film be developed?"

"Right now," he said happily. "It develops pictures instantly. Watch." Two pictures came out of the camera before Katie and Oliver's eyes.

"Thanks again," Katie said brightly as she snatched the pictures away from Colin's curious eyes. "I'll make sure Harry knows."

"Thanks!" he squeaked before bustling down the hall.

After making sure no one else was in sight, Katie slipped back into the closet. Taking a quill from her pocket, she wrote on the back of one of the photos:

_Take that, you filthy Slytherin. Like I said, it pays to be friends with the Weasleys. Don't you dare try anything else. I have a picture of you exactly like this one, and I'm not afraid to put it to good use._

Leaving the note unsigned, she slipped the photo into Montague's hand and put the other photo into her own pocket. Then she closed the door to the closet and walked away quickly. She could hear Oliver's footsteps as he followed her.

"That was low, even for you," Oliver joked as he caught up. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."

Katie spun to face him, her eyes blazing with anger. "Do you think it's time for jokes?" she hissed. "I can't believe what you did back there."

Oliver's eyes widened. "I was trying to help, and now you're attacking me for it?"

"Just leave me alone," she snapped, walking faster. He caught up to her once more and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Katie, listen to me," he began patiently. "I'm sorry if what I did upset you. But I only had the best intentions, and you know that."

"I can handle things myself," she said stubbornly.

Oliver sighed. "You're doing it again."

There was a pause. Then the haughty, angry look faded from Katie's face and a quiet, resigned expression replaced it.

"I am, aren't I?" she said quietly. "I'm sorry. It's just that… I was so mad at Montague and I took my anger out on you 'cause I couldn't be mad at him 'cause he's unconscious…" Hysterical laughter was bubbling up inside her, but at the same time, she felt like bursting into tears.

"Oh, Katie," he said, taking her into his arms. "You're too much."

Katie buried her face into his chest. "You always say that," she said, her voice muffled by his shirt.

He laughed softly. "Maybe because it's true?... God, Katie, I'm so impressed and proud of you. What you did to Montague is worthy of even the Weasleys."

Katie couldn't help laughing. "That's the biggest compliment you could ever give me."

Oliver took her face in his hands. "There really is no girl like you, is there?" he murmured, looking straight into her eyes. His voice just about melted her heart. If she wasn't careful, that damn sexy Scottish accent would be her undoing.

"Don't," she said, pushing him away. There was a pang in her heart as a confused, hurt expression appeared in his eyes.

"What did I do wrong this time?"

"Nothing."

"Then what is it?" he said, his voice getting louder. A group of girls who were walking by watched them curiously. Oliver sighed impatiently and gently pulled Katie into an empty classroom.

"Why do you keep doing this to me?" he said once he had closed the door. "Why do you keep running away whenever I get close to you?"

Katie couldn't answer, and instead, looked down at her feet. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes.

"Katie, I have a confession," Oliver continued. "Until this year, I just thought of you as a friend and teammate, almost like a little sister, like you said. But now—"

"Don't say it," she cried before he could finish. "You're being self-delusional. You're just mistaking affection for love." He opened his mouth to speak, but she continued, "What would a girl like me be good for anyway? What you need is someone who's older and sophisticated, someone who can take care of you and make sure Quidditch isn't taking over your life and killing you. That someone isn't Vivian but it's some other girl out there who deserves you as much as you deserve her."

"Katie, listen to me—" he began.

"No, _you_ listen," she replied, cutting him off. "You need someone who's patient, loving, mature, responsible, dedicated… and I'm not any of these things. Right now you're confused, but you'll see what I mean sooner or later."

"I'm not the one who's confused—" he answered, but she opened the door and fled from the room. She was tired of running but she had no choice.

* * *

"Katie, sweet, why weren't you at dinner?" Angelina murmured as she sat beside Katie, who lay sprawled on her bed. 

"Have you been crying?" Alicia asked softly, observing Katie's red eyes and tearstained cheeks. "What's wrong?"

Katie couldn't answer. Instead, she buried her face into her pillow.

"We can talk about it tomorrow if you want," Angelina said gently as she stroked Katie's hair. "Would that be better?"

Katie nodded. Then Alicia reached into her pocket and pulled out a letter. "This is for you," she said quietly. "Oliver asked me to give it to you."

Katie refused to take it. With a sigh, Alicia left the note at the edge of the bed. "We'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

After they left, Katie sat up and looked at the letter where it lay on her bedspread. After a moment of staring at it blankly, she picked it up gingerly and slipped it under her pillow.

That night, she couldn't sleep. Long after her roommates had fallen asleep, she tossed and turned in her bed restlessly, forever feeling the burning presence of Oliver's letter under her pillow. Finally, she couldn't take it. Grabbing her wand and whispering "_Lumos_," she opened the letter and began to read.

_Katie,_

_Since you refused to let me talk, I'm sending a letter to you via Air Alicia. I hope you're okay; you weren't at dinner tonight and I didn't see you in the common room._

_Before I say anything else, I first want to explain what happened earlier this afternoon. I don't know how Vivian and Montague met each other and started talking about us, but I do know that they came up with the plan together. Obviously, Vivian did most of the work, including making the Polyjuice Potion. When you were trapped in the closet with Montague, she cornered me in a classroom disguised as you and literally threw herself at me. I knew you would never do something like that, and knew something was up, so I tried to leave. Then she broke down and admitted everything, even that Montague was with you at that very moment. That's how I knew where to find you. _

_So that's what happened between them. But what's happening between _us…_ Katie, I have no idea where you're getting all this stuff about how I "need" a certain type of girl. No offense, but that's all bullshit. I don't need a goody-two-shoes who's perfect, the way you described. Can you imagine how quickly I'd get sick of her? What I need is a girl who can make me laugh, make me smile when she's around, who never fails to surprise me day by day, who keeps me on my toes, who always fascinates me. A girl who—though not perfect—is perfect to me. I don't give a damn what you say, Katie Bell, but that girl is you. _

_I don't care what you say to me later on about this letter. You can call me corny and make fun of me for the rest of life, but knowing just one thing would make me the happiest guy on earth—that you loved me back. Because I _do_ love you, Katie, and it's not a figment of my imagination._

_But I know just as well as you do that I can't make your decisions for you. So what are you going to do now, Katie Bell? Will you keep running away or will you finally acknowledge what we've both known all along? _

The letter ended there, and was unsigned like all of Oliver's previous notes.

Katie's heart burned with emotion. He loved her. He _loved _her. Oliver Wood loved her, Katie Bell. And she loved him back.

With a sudden burst of energy, she jumped out of bed. For some reason, a feeling in her heart told her that he'd be there, that he'd be waiting for her…

Not even bothering to put on shoes, she flung the door open and lightly sprinted down the stairs in her bare feet. She skidded to a stop at the bottom of the stairs.

The common room was empty. Other than the crackling of the flames in the fireplace, all was silent. Katie could feel tears prickling at the back of her eyes. She'd been so _sure_, so confident that he'd be there. But he wasn't.

With a heavy heart, she turned around slowly and started back up the stairs. Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming down the boys' staircase across the common room. Afraid to turn around and see that it wasn't him, she remained frozen where she was and closed her eyes.

Then she heard the voice she was waiting for, the voice she'd longed to hear with all her heart, the voice that made her name sound so beautiful as it came from his lips…

"Katie."


	12. Together at Last

**Padfoot's Sidekick**- yay! the Weasleys won't think Oliver's gay anymore! you'll see that in this chappie… :)  
**Tears-of-Love-Tears-of-Hate**- yes, Katie does have somewhat of a temper but we all love her anyway. (or hate her— for being w/ Oliver?) Hmm… it must be one of those love/hate things.  
**bubbleishness**- yes I do think a giant blender would've been better but unfortunately even at Hogwarts you can't find something as bizarre as a huge electrical Muggle blender. I do think a guillotine would be nice, or finally giving in to ol' Filch's craving to hang kids by chains from the ceiling. Hmm… (_looks extremely thoughtful_) Too bad the only realistic method is to have Oliver bash his skull into the wall. Which isn't bad, if you think about it. Yay Oliver!  
**mello80**- i LOVE that part too! That "damn sexy Scottish accent" could melt any girl's heart… (_sighs dreamily and fantasizes about hooking up with Oliver/Sean_) And I'm sorry hon, but you can't have Sean. If you find out that he has a cousin or whatever you can have him, but Sean is _mine! _;)  
**TooSweetForWords**- that one word "wow" made my entire day. It's funny how a little word can make you feel so good. :) thank you!  
**ilovecaptainjacks**- Thanks for your compliment. Oh, and I forgot to thank you for this before, but thanks for being my 100th reviewer! YAY! Btw, you have to update your story or I'll dieeee.  
**Doodleflip**- ooh I'm so glad you like it! Thanks so much for reviewing.  
**Star of the North**- oh thankee so so much. Yes, Katie will _finally _give in this chapter. Excited? _I _am! Anyway, you'll soon see your X-mas gift from me as you keep reading. Hugs & kisses:)  
**IHopeForAnarchy**- eek! Thanks so much for the review _and_ the Christmas email, complete w/ Oliver pix! I heart you! And I'm absolutely heartbroken that your story is over; can't wait for the sequel (there _is_ one, right?). luv ya!  
**Gemm'n2590**- ooh sugar cookies! Yummy… teehee. Thanks so much for the review (and the cookies!).  
**swimgirl**- oops, sorry! I'm rather evil when it comes to ending w/ cliffies. But you don't mind, do you? (_smiles innocently_). But this chappie won't have an evil cliffie, I promise!  
**Miss Court-A-Doo**- yay it's "smoochey face" time! Oh I'm so excited. Thanks so much for reviewing; you're a doll!  
**Mysterious Shadow Writer**- yeah, I _have_ noticed that a _lot_ of Katie-Oliver stories involve abuse of some kind to Katie, but I couldn't help using it myself. I'll be honest—I have no creative bone in my body. But thanks so much for compliments; they made me feel so special!  
**Schnebz**- I have the same opinion as you do—"corny but sweet." So I guess it all evens out, right:)  
**banana-princess93**- oh whew you don't think it's corny! Yay! And here's Chapter 12… _finally!_ Oh and about IMing me… please do!  
**Crying Pixie**- it wasn't too corny? Yippee! Hope you like this one too…  
**Chrissy- **yup yup major makeout session! YAY!  
**lilred-07**- yay a new reviewer! I'm so glad you like it and I hope you keep reading.  
**jr.Journalist****-** another new reviewer! Mwah (_kisses you happily_). Muchos gracias!

Okay, a few things before I start the chapter we've all been waiting for… First of all I hope you guys didn't find the last chapter too corny, cuz this one will be even corni_er!_ Hurray for corniness! Also, I finally have the chance to read all the fanfiction stories I want over X-mas break, so does anyone want me to read theirs? Feel free to recommend any of them to me, especially the ones you feel particularly proud of. (mello80- I didn't forget my promise! I'll read yours first.)

Okey doke here's… CHAPTER 12! (which happens to be my lucky number) Yay! This chappie's for **Star of the North** because: 1) I promised, 2) she deserves it, and 3) cuz I said so. Think of it as a thank-you/early X-mas present. Hope you like it!

_**Chapter 12**_

Katie turned around slowly, her heart pounding. Oliver had just reached the bottom of the staircase, and he stood motionlessly across the room. Their eyes locked on each other, strong emotions flickering across both their faces.

Oliver came forward, walking towards her slowly, always keeping his eyes on hers. He stopped just a few steps away from her.

Katie knew what he wanted her to do. Her stubbornness, her refusal to see the truth, had kept them apart. Now it was up to her to take those last few steps.

She took one step forward. Then another. And another. Then she stopped, hesitant to make that last step. His deep chocolate brown eyes encouraged her silently, and she suddenly had the feeling that everything was all right. With a choked sob, she flung herself forward, and he caught her in his arms.

Then his lips were on hers, his kiss soft and sweet. Katie felt like she could laugh and cry at the same time. She and Oliver were finally together.

The kiss, soft at first, became deeper, more passionate. Oliver's arms tightened around her and he kissed her over and over again. Katie clung to him and kissed him back fervently. He pulled her down with him onto the couch beside them, and they lay side by side, holding each other as if they would never let go.

A tremor passed through Katie's body and, with a shudder, she broke the kiss. Feeling tears coming to her eyes, she leaned her head against Oliver's shoulder. "I'm sorry," she whispered into his neck, her voice shaking. "I…I was so stupid…"

Oliver pulled her closer. "No you weren't," he murmured into her hair. "Don't say that." He took her face in his hands and kissed her tenderly, wiping her tears away with a stroke of his thumb.

"I love you, Katie," he said softly.

"I love you too," she whispered back.

Their lips met in one last kiss, then Katie's head fell back wearily on Oliver's shoulder and she closed her eyes. She heard the fluttering of a blanket, which Oliver must have magicked to appear, and she felt it being tucked around her. She fell asleep listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.

* * *

Something was tickling her face. What was it? Katie opened her eyes and saw Oliver, who was still fast asleep. It was only air that was tickling her, as he breathed in and out. 

Katie rolled over on her side and groaned. She had a horrible crick in her neck from sleeping in an awkward position. She sat up and tried to get rid of the pain, alternating between rolling her head in circles and massaging the back of her neck.

"You okay?" Oliver drawled, sleepily opening one eye, then another.

Katie looked up, startled, and then she smiled. "I'll be fine."

Oliver nodded, and then he yawned. "Mmm… tired," he muttered, closing his eyes again.

"We should get up," Katie said, smiling at his antics. "People will start coming down any minute now."

"So?" He reached for her, pulled her down, and sprawled on top of her.

"Oliver!" Katie shrieked, laughing. "Get off!"

"What?" he drawled in that sleepy tone. "Don't bother me; I'm sleeping."

"Would you _please_ get off so I can go wash up?" she complained, hitting him.

"You're not going anywhere."

"Oliver, you're _crushing _me."

Oliver laughed and finally pushed himself off. "Are you always this annoying in the morning?" he asked.

"Do I really have to answer that question?"

His deep laugh sent a thrill up Katie's spine. "Fine, don't," he said. "So what'd you think of my note?" he asked, propping his head up on his hand.

"It was very corny," she replied. "Which was how I knew it was from you, especially because it was unsigned."

"I really do feel the love," Oliver said sarcastically.

Katie laughed. "Just kidding. I really do appreciate it, though. It knocked some sense into me."

"And it was about time, too…" He took her hand in his and stroked the back of it with his thumb. "Do you know how much I hated Cedric because of you?"

"What?" Katie asked incredulously.

"When you came up to me in the library that day, I thought you were about to tell me that you guys were going out."

"No! I don't even talk to him that much. Do you think I'd fall in love with some guy I almost never talk to and start dating him randomly?"

Oliver grinned sheepishly. "Got a little carried away, I guess. Vivian hinted it, that you guys were going out."

Katie groaned. "Oh please, let's not talk about her. Or Montague. He told me you and I had no chance, and I was stupid enough to let his words fool me."

"They must've really wanted to keep us apart."

"Yeah..." Then Katie sat up quickly, suddenly remembering something. "Wait. In the library, you thought I was going to say that Cedric and I were going out… so you don't know about the Puddlemere United thing after all."

Oliver's hold on her hand tightened. "_What!_"

Katie quickly explained. Oliver's eyes grew wide, and then a huge grin appeared on his face.

"No way!" he exclaimed, sitting up and hugging her. "Katie, this is great!"

"I know," she beamed. "It's the chance you've always been waiting for... But we should tell the team, too, 'cause the scout can show up whenever he feels like it."

"Yeah…" Oliver's eyes shone with excitement. "We'll tell them today."

"Good plan," she smiled.

Oliver took her in his arms once more. "You're good for me," he said with satisfaction. "And to think we've gone this long without knowing how the other felt…"

"It does seem rather silly now, doesn't it?" Katie said softly.

"Mmhmm…" Oliver bent his head close to hers. "Katie, go out with me?" he murmured against her neck.

"I suppose I must," Katie said, sighing and pretending to be reluctant. "After all, this _is _the second time in the running that I've slept with you."

"Which neither of us is sorry for," he grinned. He pressed his lips against her forehead. "I never thought the day would come when I could call Katie Bell my girlfriend. Do you know how long I've waited for this moment?"

"I'm guessing at least as long as I have," Katie answered, smiling. "But Oliver, let's not tell anyone yet. I want to see how long it takes before everyone finds out on their own."

"'K." He leaned closer to kiss her on the mouth, but Katie ducked.

"Don't," she said, laughing. "I have morning breath."

"And so does everyone else when they get up in the morning," Oliver retorted.

"Yes, but still… and besides, everyone will be coming down soon so we should go upstai—"

She never finished her sentence, for Oliver had grabbed her and put his lips on hers. Apparently, morning breath wasn't going to stop him, and it wasn't long before Katie forgot about it altogether.

* * *

At breakfast, Angelina and Alicia kept giving each other significant looks and glancing over at Katie. Finally, Katie couldn't take it anymore and said, "What, is there jam on my nose?" 

"We're awfully suspicious of you and Wood." Alicia said, getting straight to the point.

"And don't play all innocent with us," Angelina said as Katie opened her mouth to protest.

"We're not stupid, you know,"Alicia said matter-of-factly. "We've already deduced that Oliver Wood was the cause of your depression last evening, and the cause of your euphoric high this morning."

"Which, in plain English, means that we know you and Oliver are going out," Angelina chipped in.

Katie laughed. "I knew it wouldn't take long for you guys to find out. You can see right through me."

"So how far did you get last night?" Angelina asked casually.

"Angelina!" Katie reproached. "What kind of question is that?"

"A good one." Angelina turned to Harry, who sat beside her, and said, "Hey, Harry, did you know Katie and Oliver are going out?"

Harry's eyes widened, and then he smiled. "Really? Congrats."

"Thanks," Katie muttered, squirming uncomfortably. "Angelina, don't," she said, grabbing her friend's arm as she was about to get up and tell the twins. "I want to see how long it take for them to find out."

"Fine."

"So why did Oliver come up to us first thing in the morning and tell us we're having a team meeting, and what is this meeting about?" Alicia wondered.

"You'll see," Katie said, smiling secretively. No matter how much Alicia and Angelina cajoled and pleaded after she said that, she kept her mouth shut.

* * *

"I have something to tell you all," Oliver said, at the meeting that afternoon, looking out of the corner of his eye at Katie. She smiled at him. "I'm g—" 

"_GAY!_" the Weasleys shouted at the same time, jumping up to their feet.

"We knew it all along!" Fred shouted. "But no one believed us!"

A very stunned Oliver opened his mouth to speak but George cut him off.

"Bell here actually suggested you were too wrapped up in Quidditch to have a girlfriend," he said, indicating Katie with a wave of his hand. "But _we_ knew better."

"That's right. People should listen to us more for a change."

"But—" Oliver sputtered.

"We know it's hard for you, Wood," George said as both twins walked up to the flabbergasted Captain and patted him on the shoulder.

"A lot of people go through this, I'm sure," Fred said, looking very wise.

"Just know that whatever happens, we'll be here for you," George said reassuringly. "You're still the same Wood… except, er… gay, that is."

"But that's perfectly fine," Fred said quickly.

"Yes, perfectly fine," George echoed.

Except for the dull thuds of the twins still patting Oliver's shoulder, the room was so deathly silent you could have heard a pin drop. Then suddenly, at the same time, everyone in the room (except the Weasleys, that is) burst into hysterical laughter.

"What's going on?" Fred demanded.

"Are we missing something here?" George shouted over the laughter.

"Bloody...hell," Oliver gasped between fits of laughter.

"Angelina, stop it," Fred commanded to the black girl, who was holding her side with one hand and clinging to her chair for dear life with the other.

"Will someone rational please explain what's going on here?" George demanded as he glared at Alicia and Katie, who were clutching each other and laughing so hard they couldn't breathe. Even Harry was doubled up with laughter and his glasses threatened to fall off his nose.

The twins looked at each other and shrugged.

"Guess we gotta do what we always do to get people's attention," George said to his brother.

"Must we always resort to this?" Fred sighed as they both took out a handful of firecrackers from their pockets.

"Here we go," George said, lighting his firecrackers and quickly jamming his fingers into his ears, and his brother did the same.

The explosion of purple sparks had the desired effect—the twins immediately got everyone's attention.

"_Finally_," Fred complained when everyone looked at them. "Now would you explain why—"

Suddenly Angelina gave a snort of laughter and immediately after, Katie and Alicia burst into hysterics. It wasn't long before Harry and Oliver started laughing against as well.

"It couldn't have been _that_ funny," George mused as he and his brother watched Angelina finally falling out of her chair and landing on the floor with a _thud_. Even that didn't stop her—she kept laughing from her crumpled position on the floor.

Finally, when the laughter had died down (and Angelina pulled herself back up on her chair, still laughing), Oliver explained to the poor, confused Weasleys.

"Before I was so rudely interrupted," he began with a chuckle, "I was about to say that I'm going to need everyone to focus harder—not just at games, but during practices, too. I've just heard that there might be a scout from Puddlemere United coming over to Hogwarts—at _any time_—to look for future players."

Alicia shrieked. "_What!_"

"Oh no!" Angelina wailed, biting her fingernails nervously. "I'll _never _be able to concentrate!"

"You'll be fine," Oliver said firmly. "We'll all be fine, whether the scout comes or not. Now don't go off telling everyone else, 'cause we're not supposed to know this and it's confidential. Capeesh?"

"Yes sir," Harry grinned, saluting Oliver.

"You got it," the girls said together. Oliver looked over at the twins for their response.

"Yeah," they mumbled together.

"But you could've told us what you were going to say before, you know," Fred grumbled.

"Yeah. Then we wouldn't have had to make the gay speech," George muttered.

There was a sudden gasp and then Angelina burst out laughing. Clasping her hand to her mouth, she ran out of the room before she could launch into her uncontrollable laughing fit again.

"It's not that funny," Fred muttered as he watched Angelina flee from the room.

"Even though we _did_ think you were gay," George admitted.

Oliver smiled. "It's not possible. Ask Katie."

Everyone's heads turned quickly to Katie, who blushed crimson. Alicia winked at her and Harry grinned.

"Are we missing something?" George demanded.

"The question is… do we want to know?" Fred muttered.

"Katie and I are going out," Oliver said, slipping his arm around his girlfriend's waist and smiling down at her.

Fred and George's jaws dropped to the floor. Just then, Angelina came back in.

"What did I miss?" she asked, looking at the incredulous looks on the twins' faces.

"The Weasleys—who have always prided themselves on their "keen," perceptive, eavesdropping and spying skills—just found out about our Mr. and Mrs. Wood here," Alicia said dryly.

By then, the Weasleys had had enough time to recover, and their trademark grins were back on their faces. Nothing surprised them for long.

"Knew it all along, actually," Fred said carelessly.

"Of course, the whole gay thing was for a laugh or two," George added quickly.

"Just a joke."

"You two make a _lovely_ couple."

"_Do_ invite us to the wedding."

"Ta."

With a wave, the twins hastily made their exit before Angelina could erupt into her laughing fit again.

* * *

"Harry?" Katie called to the third-year, who was reading alone in his bedroom in one of the rare moments that Ron wasn't with him. 

Harry looked up. "Hey, Katie," he smiled, putting his book down. "What's up?"

"I have a confession," she said as she sat down on the bed beside him. "I, um, kind of used you, and I'm sorry."

"Used me?" he asked, his brow creased in confusion.

Katie gave him a brief explanation of the Montague situation without going into too much detail. "So I wanted to take a picture of Montague and use it for blackmail," she explained. "In case he bothered me again, you know? But Colin didn't want to lend his camera to me, so I told him the picture I was going to take was for you, 'cause you needed some cheering up after all the stress from school and homework and…" Her voice trailed off and she smiled sheepishly.

Harry laughed. "Oh no," he said, pretending to groan. "So what'd he say?"

"He couldn't get the camera off his neck fast enough," Katie said, laughing. "And when I said I'd tell you he lent me the camera, and how much you would appreciate it, it was as if I gave him the moon on a silver platter."

"So I have to thank him now? Because of your lie?" Harry grinned.

"Um… yes?" Katie smiled innocently. "Please?"

"I will," he said reassuringly. "Don't worry about it."

"Thanks so much," she said gratefully. "And for doing that, you get to see…" She pulled the picture of Montague out of her pocket. "This."

And, just like she'd promised Colin, Harry loved it.

* * *

A/N: Happy Holidays to everyone! I hope all of you have a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year… 


	13. Oliver Wood's Girl

Many thanks to:

**lilred-07**- thank you! And Happy New Year to you, too.  
**IHopeForAnarchy**- yes yes I absolutely ADORED your holiday email. Judging by the additional Draco stuff in the email, I'm guessing you're a Tom Felton fan too? We must be twins! Anyway, I'm _so_ glad you liked the last chappie. Hugs and kisses!  
**Tears-of-Love-Tears-of-Hate**- glad you thought it was funny! Thanks  
**TooSweet4Words**- yay you liked it! I'll have to put in more Fred/George stuff, won't I?  
**Padfoot's Sidekick**- another Fred/George fan! Hooray! I must admit, I thought the gay speech was pretty funny myself ;)  
**Star of the North**- you liked it? _You liked it?!_ ::does a little happy dance:: oh good! And you even gave me a hug. ::hugs you back!:: Well you more than deserved that chappie. I do hope you were as pleased w/ your dedication chapter as I was with my dedication chapter. :)  
**banana-princes93**- teehee you and your friend must have very interesting conversations. I rather like the idea of Oliver w/o his kilt on! ;) anyway, I'm so glad you liked the last chapter  
**Crying Pixie**- hooray for cute romantic fluff! Thanks so much for the awesome review  
**mello80**- _I _want Chad Michael Murray too! ::whines and pouts like a spoiled little brat:: Looks like we'll never satisfied… oh I have a great idea! I'll take BOTH! Oh wow I'm so smart I think I'll reward myself with some ice cream… lol jk. Well it was cool IMing w/ you, though it was brief. Am looking forward to more chats!  
**bubbleishness**- i know, wouldn't it be absolutely _awful_ if Oliver was truly gay? I think I'd die… :) anywho, thanks so much for reviewing!  
**Doodleflip**- thanks very much! It was a long wait, wasn't it? ::smiles innocently::  
**Miss Court****-A-Doo**- thanks for the review! MWAH! Hugs and kisses!  
**Schnebz**- yay gay speeches! lol. Glad you liked that!  
**ilovecaptainjacks**- priceless? Glad you think so! ;)  
**chrissy**- yup Fred and George will appear again; they _have _to. Thanks for reviewing!  
**Maffy Jiblo**- the BEST Katie/Oliver story you've read… in your LIFE?! Oh gosh I have to go fan myself and cool off. Wait I must have read it wrong; let me check again… it still says the same thing! ::does a happy dance:: Thank you so so so much! You don't know how good that made me feel. And also don't worry— as you can see, it's not quite over yet! ;)

_First off I want to say HAPPY NEW YEAR!! (runs around the room in circles throwing confetti) I hope everyone has a GREAT '05 year..._

_A few words about Chapter 12… everyone seemed to like Fred and George's scene better than Katie and Oliver's! But I don't blame you, since I absolutely _**adore**_ the twins. Also, some people got the impression that the story's over, but it's far from it! You're stuck with me for a little longer!! ::laughs evilly:: _

_Okay, one last thing: this program seems to have SPACE bar malfunctions (or is it just my computer??) So if a space is missing and words are clumpedtogether, it's **notmyfault!** (teehee I did those on purpose, but I won't do it again!)_

_I'm borrowing material from HP and the POA. Again. Too bad I'm not the lucky person who wrote it._

**_Chapter 13_ **

"_Ow_," Katie muttered as she tripped over a fifth foot in the Great Hall.

Ever since she'd started dating Oliver, girls that she'd never even noticed before were doing whatever they could to get their revenge. Members of the Oliver Wood Fan Club stuck out their tongues, spat, or hissed, "bitch!" in Katie's direction whenever she walked by. Not infrequently, unidentified flying objects sailed toward her from the direction of a group of huddled girls, all of whom were glaring at her fiercely. Other times, they did what they were doing now— sticking out their feet to trip her in the Great Hall or a crowded hallway.

"You okay, Kates?" Oliver asked, catching her. He'd taken to calling her that lately, and after she got used to it, she found she rather liked it. She was just about to reply when a foot flew out from the Hufflepuff table, kicking Katie viciously in the shin.

"Fine," she mumbled, sinking down with relief into an empty seat at the Gryffindor Table. "I have a million bruises anywhere from my toes to my knees, and a bruise on my cheek, but I'm feeling absolutely wonderful."

"Honestly, I have no idea why they're going insane about me dating you," he said, gently touching the bruise on her cheek. "I don't see what the problem is."

"Well that's what jealousy does to you," Katie said with a sigh. "I was tempted to do the same sort of thing to Vivian when she claimed you were her boyfriend."

Oliver laughed. "Right. As if I would ever go out with _her_." He leaned down and kissed Katie on the cheek. "And besides, I was too busy thinking about you."

"You're too sweet for your own good," she said, smiling, and returned his kiss.

_SPLAT _

A greasy piece of egg omelet landed in her hair.

"Bloody hell," she groaned, doing her best to wipe it off with her napkin. "_Now _what are they mad about? Because you kissed me or because I kissed you? Or both?!"

"I don't think I'll ever understand girls," Oliver muttered under his breath.

"I can't tell you how sick I am of this," Katie moaned, pulling another clump of egg out of her hair. "I don't know if I have what it takes to be Oliver Wood's girl."

"Does that mean you'll stop dating me?" Oliver asked with his most adorable sad puppy face.

"Of course not, you prat," she laughed, kissing him fondly. "A bit of eggs and bruises aren't going to stop me."

_SPLAT_

"What about carrots?" Oliver asked after the bits of orange vegetable rained down on her hair from the next table over.

"That's it, I'm leaving!" Katie cried, shoving her plate away. "I need to take a shower. No way in hell am I going to the match looking like _this._"

She stood huffily, ready to storm out of the Hall, when Oliver grabbed her arm.

"Wait. I don't want you going through the gauntlet again." He stood also, then put an arm on her shoulders and another behind her knees, and in one sweeping motion, he lifted her in his arms.

"It'll get better, right?" he said as he carried her toward the doors. His fan club didn't dare stick out their feet out of fear for tripping their precious god. "I mean, it's only been two days but maybe they'll let up after a while."

"Oliver, I really appreciate your thoughtfulness," Katie began, "but maybe it wasn't such a great idea to carry me."

"Why not?"

"It shows everyone how sweet you are and that'll make them hate me even more for having you," she replied, warily eyeing the murderous glances that were cast her way.

"And I thought the Vivian situation was bad," Oliver muttered, putting her back on her feet as they finally exited through the double doors.

"No, nothing can be _that _bad." Katie stood on her toes and kissed him lightly on the lips. "I'm going upstairs now. You don't have to come up with me."

"'K. I'll save a seat in the stands for you."

Katie blew a kiss to him and ran upstairs.

* * *

"It's a very close match!" Lee's voice shouted across the Quidditch field. "Ravenclaw is only ten points ahead of Slytherin." 

"Even though I hate to see them win, Slytherin has to beat Ravenclaw," Oliver said to Katie, his eyes still riveted on the players in the field. "If Slytherin wins, and we beat Ravenclaw in our next match, we'll be in second place."

"And we'll still have a shot at the Cup," Katie replied.

"And we'll still have a shot at the Cup," he repeated with a satisfied nod.

"I told you," she muttered, rolling her eyes. "So let me guess— if Slytherin wins today… more practices for us?"

Oliver finally tore his eyes away from the game to grin at her. "You know me too well."

"It looks like the Slytherin Seeker's caught sight of the Snitch!" Lee yelled. "There goes Malfoy… _that foul dirty cheat_… oh, sorry, Professor, didn't mean that, really!" Katie, who was sitting pretty close to where Lee was, laughed as she saw him jump out of the way with the megaphone as Professor McGonagall tried to grab it from him.

"Won't do it again, Professor… Malfoy's getting close… go get him, Cho! Knock his bony arse off his broom! ...Oh sorry, Professor; can't help it that I hate the little brat's measly guts… _sorry, didn't mean it!_... And Malfoy's caught the Snitch, goddamit!"

There were cheers from the Slytherins, and green banners waved throughout the stadium.

"I suppose we should be happy," Oliver said with a sigh. "Now all we have to worry about is beating Ravenclaw."

"Which I wouldn't be so worried about if Harry actually had a broom," Katie muttered, worriedly biting her lower lip.

* * *

It wasn't long before the entire team was worried. Harry still didn't have a broom by the middle of February. 

"I'm at a loss as to what to do," Oliver confided to Katie, pacing back and forth across the floor of his bedroom. "I advised him to buy a Nimbus 2001 like the one Malfoy's got, but he stubbornly insisted the he's 'not buying anything Malfoy thinks is good.'"

"I suppose it's also because of the Firebolt," Katie said from her position on his bed. She lay on her side, absently playing with the end of a pillowcase. "I mean, if I were him, I'd still hope and wait around for it, no matter how many times Professor McGonagall told me to stop asking."

"She _did _get a bit annoyed, especially at me," Oliver said. "She said I got my priorities wrong, and that I seemed to care more about winning the Cup than about Harry staying alive. And all I'd said was that I didn't care if the Firebolt threw him off, just as long as he caught the Snitch first."

"Oliver, you didn't!" Katie reproached, horrified. "And after I yelled at you after that first match!"

"Old habits die hard," he said, grinning sheepishly. "And besides, _you_ still throw a fit whenever I try to do something chivalrous trying to help you, so I'm not the only one to blame."

"You think you're so smart," Katie said, pretending to be mad. "Come here, you naughty boy."

Oliver laughed and jumped on the bed beside her. "Who're you calling naughty?" he growled, tickling her mercilessly.

"Oliver!" she screamed, laughing and squirming. "Stop it, you prat!"

"Say please," he grinned, still tickling her.

"No!"

"Then…" And he tickled her even harder.

"PLEASE!!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. Oliver finally stopped, and flopped down beside her.

"Shh, Kates. People will think we're shagging or something," he said with a cheeky grin.

"Ha. Very funny," she muttered.

Oliver smiled and took her in his arms. "Mmm, you smell good."

"Hmm… let's see if you smell as good as I do." She leaned closer to him and took a deep, exaggerated sniff. "Yup."

He laughed, and then he kissed her. She put her arms around his neck, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss. Their lips parted and his tongue brushed lightly against hers, and then slipped into her mouth. Katie moved her hands up, raking her fingers through his hair. Then Oliver's lips left her mouth, gently tracing her jawline and then down to her neck.

"I love you," he murmured.

"Love you, too," she whispered, catching her breath as his lips trailed lightly down her throat, planting soft, sweet kisses along the way. He gently nuzzled the smooth skin of her neck.

"Oliver," Katie said.

"Mmm?"

"You better not have given me a hickey or I'll kill you." Oliver's mouth finally left her neck and he leaned closer to examine it.

"Well?" Katie said when a few moments had passed.

"Well it looks like you'll have to kill me," he said, grinning impudently at her.

"Oliver!" she shrieked, her hand flying to her neck. "Everyone will see; everyone will know!"

"It's only a hickey," he replied calmly, casually leaning back against his pillow. That cheeky grin was still on his face.

"That's easy for you to say," she retorted. "Is it small at least?" She took her hand away so he could see.

"Depends on how you define 'small,'" he said after a moment's study.

"That means it's big, doesn't it?"

Oliver was saved from having to reply when someone knocked on the door just then.

"Wood, quick!" It was the twins. "McGonagall's just given Harry his broom back. Hurry, he's in the common room!"

Oliver jumped off the bed at lightning speed and quickly unlocked the door. He flew past the Weasleys, and Katie could hear his feet thundering down the steps to the common room.

"Wait for me, you bastard!" Katie muttered, getting up quickly. But as soon as she reached the door, the Weasleys' hands linked and caught her between them.

"Whoa, what's _that?_" Fred exclaimed, eagerly peering at Katie's neck.

"That has got to be the biggest hickey I've ever seen," George said, grinning mischievously.

"You only get the biggest and the best when you're Oliver Wood's girl," Fred said, nudging George with his elbow, and they started cracking up.

"Shut up, you two," Katie said, pulling free from their grasp. She covered her hickey with her hand and ran toward the common room. She felt retarded running with her hand on her neck like that, but she had no choice. "At least I didn't think Oliver was _gay!_" she shouted over her shoulder.

"Hey, that was uncalled for!" the twins roared as they ran after her.

Katie skidded to a stop in the common room. Harry, who was grinning from ear to ear, was surrounded by Gryffindors who were "ooh"ing and "ahh"ing and asking if they could just touch the Firebolt.

Oliver, after being allowed to stroke the broom handle, beamed and grinned widely at Harry. Still with one hand on her neck, Katie snuck up behind him and tapped his shoulder with the other hand.

"What? Oh Katie, it's you." He had that half-maniacal gleam in his eye that appeared whenever Quidditch was involved.

Katie rolled her eyes. "Yes, it's me. And thanks for just ditching me after giving me the biggest hickey the Weasleys have ever seen."

"Sorry," Oliver said, grinning. "Couldn't help it; I was just so excited about the Firebolt." He gathered her in his arms and spun her round and round. "We're going to win that Cup!"

"Oliver, you're ridiculous," Katie said, still pouting.

"Aw, don't be mad, Kates. Here, I'll make it up to you."

And then he kissed her, right in the middle of the common room in full view of all the Gryffindors. Everyone's eyes left the Firebolt momentarily to stare at the Quidditch Captain and his girlfriend. There were quite a few loud whistles and hoots, especially from the Weasley twins, but Katie didn't hear any of it. She was too busy kissing Oliver back.

* * *

A/N: chapter 14 - Gryffindor/Ravenclaw game, coming up! 


	14. Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw

I just want to give a big thank-you and a bunch of hugs and kisses to all my reviewers (even though you'd like a hug and a kiss from Sean Biggerstaff more, I bet!). Thanks so much!

**IHopeForAnarchy**- I like both Tom and Sean also but, like you, I'm leaning more toward Sean. What a hottie!! Excuse me while I go fan myself and try my best not to drool…… okay, my little horny spell's over. ;) About your question… what more could happen? Well I do have some stuff planned out, though I'm not exactly certain. I'll try to tell you the approximate number of chapters ASAP.  
**Tears-of-Love-Tears-of-Hate**- yup, and they'll be in this chapter again! Unfortunately not a lot, but whatever. I'm thinking of writing a story starring the twins but I have no idea what to write about!  
**Gemm'n2590**- you highly recommended my story? Aw thanks so much!  
**Miss Court****-A-Doo**- thanks! I'm trying to get around to reading your stories—which look very good, by the way— and I will ASAP, I promise.  
**TooSweet4Words**- I'll try to put in more Weasley stuff. You can never get enough of 'em, right?  
**Gurlsboy**- thank you! I like the H/HG ship myself, but I'm so glad you're getting to like this OW/KB story.  
**mello80**- naw, Sean would never dump me for you. He'll know that I'm his true love and that we were destined to be together from the start… lol, just listen to what I'm saying; what a riot! As if Sean Biggerstaff would ever pay attention to people like me… sigh… damn. Btw, I'm glad you finally put that lily/james story up.  
**lilred-07**- thanks so much! I hope the rest of it meets your expectations as well.  
**Star of the North**- yay you updated again! Can't wait for the next chappie. Thanks so much for the review.  
**Schnebz**- here's that G/R match you've been waiting for! I only wish I wrote it better but I suppose nothing can be perfect, right? :)  
**banana-princess93**- I looked at your website the other day and saw that you put my story as "story of the week." I appreciate that _so_ much; thank you. While we're on the topic of stories… update yours soon please!  
**bubbleishness**- lol I really like that idea about the parchment. One of us _has_ to use that idea in a story one day, since it's too late to put it in this one. Mind if I ever borrow it one day? ;)  
**Padfoot's Sidekick**- yay! I'm afraid there's no Montague ass-kicking in this chappie but I like it anyway. Hope you like it too!  
**swimgirl**- hooray for the world's biggest hickey! Oh gosh I would actually _pay_ to get a major make-out session (and yes, even a hickey!) from a guy like Oliver Wood, wouldn't you? ;)  
**Girl with the Evil Computer**- cool penname! :) I also love accents, _especially_ the British ones! omg I think I'll marry an English guy just to hear his sexy accent every day! Anyway, thanks for your gold star, which you're still looking for…? lol!  
**Crying Pixie**- very true. If I was Oliver Wood's little brother I'd murder him in his sleep…. And then the Oliver Wood fan club would murder _me_ in my sleep…ugh what a vicious cycle. :)**  
Chrissy**- I've thought about your question, which was a very good one, by the way. I'll answer it in my note below.

_Again, thanks to all my reviewers. Now time for a few words from me, as usual. IHopeForAnarchy asked a very good question… what else could I possibly write about in the story that makes it "far from being over?" Unfortunately I can't give a specific answer, since that would give the story away, so I'm sorry, Steph! But I _am _hoping it'll be around 24 chapters long, since that seems to be a good length and I like the number 24 (as you can see, I like multiples of sixes like 12 and 24…..I know, I'm weird; everyone tells me that!). Someone else asked a good question… are Katie and Oliver ever going to have sex? (Or, as the good ol' English say it, "shag.") I've thought about that question and I've finally decided that they're not going to. First of all, I don't feel like writing R-rated sex scenes. Second, they're still young. I mean, Katie's only 15. So I'm sorry if anyone's disappointed, but this story is going to stay PG-13. Don't worry, though— the fluff is here to stay! _

_Again, J.K. Rowling gets the credit for all the stuff in this chapter that's familiar to you._

**_Chapter 14 _**

"_LOOK!"_ a voice bellowed from the stairs. All eyes, including Katie's and Oliver's (who had finally broken their kiss), turned toward the boys' staircase, where Ron was storming down toward them, dragging his bedsheet along with him.

"I thought he'd stopped bringing around his precious blankie," Fred said, nudging George with his elbow. George snickered.

"Look!" Ron shouted again, stomping over to Hermione. He shook the sheets in front of her face.

Hermione, who had been poring over her books in spite of the commotion over Harry's new Firebolt, looked up, startled. "Ron, what—?"

"Scabbers! Look! Scabbers!"

Katie's heart went out to Hermione, who looked utterly confused and almost frightened. She knew the third-year girl hadn't been getting along very well with Harry and Ron for a while, and Ron's screaming didn't exactly help the situation.

"_Blood!_" Ron screamed, indicating the red spots on his sheet. "He's gone! And you know what was on the floor?!"

"N—no," Hermione whispered, her voice quaking.

He threw something down on her books. They were long, spiky ginger cat hairs that had obviously been shed by Hermione's cat, Crookshanks. Ron threw one last scathing glare at Hermione and stormed back up the stairs.

"I always knew our ickle Ronniekins was batty, but I never thought he could be _this _bad," George muttered.

Katie kept her eyes on Hermione, whose bottom lip quivered. Then, in a quick, sudden movement, Hermione slammed all her books closed and swept her papers into one neat pile. Taking the enormous bundle into her arms, she went quickly up the girls' staircase.

"I better go see to her," Katie whispered to Oliver, who nodded in understanding. She gave him a light peck on the lips and followed Hermione up the stairs.

She had just reached the third-years' floor when she heard someone curse. She hurried down the hall until she saw Hermione, who was trying to open the door to her room while shifting her pile of books into the other arm. Then there was a crash as all her books tumbled to the floor.

Hermione froze, looking down at the scattered papers. Then, in a devastated, defeated manner, she slumped against the wall and slid to the floor, where she shivered and hugged her knees close to her chest.

"Hermione? Are you okay?" Katie said softly, sitting beside her. Hermione turned a tear-streaked face toward Katie.

"You don't have to pretend to feel sorry for me," Hermione said, the defiant look coming back. "I know the truth. Everyone hates me."

"That's not true and you know it," Katie replied, putting an arm around the younger girl's shoulders. "I wouldn't have bothered coming if I really did hate you."

There was a pause, and then Hermione leaned closer to Katie. "Thanks," she whispered. "I've just been having such a rough time lately…"

Katie tilted Hermione's chin up so she could look at her face. There were heavy bags under Hermione's tired eyes. "You're working yourself to death," Katie said sympathetically. "No one knows how you do it—yes, I've heard how you somehow take more than one class at the same time—but I think it's too much."

"It _is_ a bit too much," Hermione said quietly. Katie noticed that Hermione did not explain her impossible class schedule. "I'm thinking of taking it a bit easier next year. But it's not just the work, Katie. Harry, Ron, and I got in a row about something, and Harry's forgiven me now but Ron positively _hates _me. And then he actually had the nerve to blame my Crookshanks for eating Scabbers, who was perfectly worthless anyway." The angry look returned to her eyes.

"Guys are like that," Katie said, "they're stubborn little prats that don't see any other side but theirs. After all, they _do_ reach puberty long after we do."

That got a little giggle out of Hermione. "That's true," she said, smiling a little.

"C'mon, let's get these books together." Katie picked up the papers and books, shaking her head a little when she saw the titles of books from advanced classes like Arithmancy and Muggle Studies.

"Thanks so much, Katie," Hermione said gratefully after they'd picked up everything.

"No problem," Katie replied warmly as she opened the door for Hermione. "Just promise me you won't be so hard on yourself?"

"I'll try," Hermione replied, though she looked doubtful.

"You better. Bye, 'Mione," Katie said, turning to leave.

"Wait," Hermione called after her. "I meant to tell you this before but I completely forgot." She pointed at Katie's neck, which Katie had forgotten to cover with her hand. "You _do _know that there's such thing as a Concealing Charm, right?"

* * *

Katie stormed into the common room, but Oliver had already left. She went up the boys' staircase, and when she reached the seventh year boys' dormitory, she slammed the door open. Oliver was examining a miniature Quidditch setup, muttering under his breath and moving figures around, while Fred and George were battling fiercely at a game of wizard chess. All three jumped and looked quickly toward the door. 

"Hey, Bell, you look different," was Fred's greeting as she stood in the doorway with her arms crossed and her eyes flashing with fury.

"Hmm… let me guess…" George said, stroking his chin with exaggerated thoughtfulness. "Hmm…oh I know what it is!"

"No hickey!" the twins yelled together. They slapped their knees, then crumpled up on the floor, holding their sides and laughing uncontrollably.

"I don't think it's very funny," Katie hissed. "Hermione was nice enough to notice and perform the Concealing Charm but all three of you knew about it all along, didn't you?"

"Um… yeah," Oliver admitted, grinning sheepishly. "But I forgot about it completely after these two started babbling about Harry's Firebolt."

"And what's your excuse?" Katie demanded, turning toward the twins.

"Um… well we forgot to tell you accidentally on purpose," said Fred.

"Excuse me?" Katie frowned, raising an eyebrow.

"And it was just so fun to look at," George said, wiggling his eyebrows. He looked at Fred, who began cracking up immediately, and soon Oliver was grinning.

"We couldn't help it; it was just so fun to tease you," Fred said.

"_FUN?!_" Katie screamed. "You think it was _fun?! _I certainly don't think it was _fun! _Every bloody Gryffindor in the bloody common room saw my hickey, which was bloody enormous and bloody _embarrassing_ and you think it was _fun?!_"

"She's got issues," George whispered to Fred.

"But I've always like a girl with a hot temper," Fred replied, quite audibly. "Makes life more interesting."

"True," George admitted. "I bet she keeps Wood on his toes all the time."

"Oh Katie." Oliver, ignoring the twins' comments, approached his girlfriend and pulled her to him. "We were just playing with you, that's all."

"Hmph!" she sniffed, pushing him away.

Oliver dropped down on one knee and took her hands in his. "I'm sorry, baby," he said in his most convincing voice. His Scottish accent rolled smoothly off his tongue like honey, making her feel faint. "Will you forgive me?"

Katie tried not to give in, but a moment later she let out a groan of frustration. "Damn your sexy Scottish accent! It always gets to me." She flung her arms around him and kissed him passionately.

"Maybe I should get a Scottish accent, too," George said to himself as he watched them, thoughtfully stroking his chin once more.

"Sorry to interrupt your snogging session," Fred said loudly, "but there's a bloody owl at the window."

Oliver reluctantly pulled his mouth from Katie's and disentangled his limbs from hers. Standing rather shakily, he stumbled to the window.

"I think it's your parents' owl, Kates," he said as the owl flew in and dropped a small parcel in her lap. Katie stroked the top of the owl's head, murmuring her thanks, and it flew out the window once more after nipping her finger affectionately.

"What could this be?" she wondered aloud, unfolding her mother's note.

_Katie, I found this in your room and thought I'd send it to you, in case you forgot to bring it to school. I hope you don't expect me to go digging for missing pieces of jewelry in your room again, which, by the way, you left in absolute chaos. I rather pity your roommates for having to share a room with you. _

_I miss you, sweetie. _

_With love,  
Mummy _

A silver bracelet fell out of the package.

"Oh not this again," Katie groaned, just as Oliver said, "I was wondering why you never wore that."

They looked at each other.

"What?" they said at the same time.

"This is from _you?_" Katie said in disbelief.

"Of course!" Oliver answered. "I thought you knew! And what do you mean, 'oh not this again'?"

"I thought it was from Montague!" Katie cried. "That's why I tossed it somewhere in my room. My mum just found it and sent it to me…" Her voice trailed off and there were two seconds of silence. They began laughing at the same time. Then Oliver fastened the bracelet around Katie's wrist. He kept her hand in his and kissed each fingertip as she smiled at him adoringly. Apparently her ranting of a few minutes ago was forgotten completely.

"How sickening," Fred said, even as he was staring.

"Let's get out of here before they start sucking each other's faces off again," George said, hurriedly sweeping all the chess pieces back into the box.

"I'm with you on that, brother," Fred replied, looking away.

"I wonder if they know about the Contraceptive Charm?" George wondered as he and Fred dashed out.

* * *

Katie walked out into the Quidditch field in her scarlet robes, loving the deafening cheers from the Gryffindors. She was a bit nervous, but full of hope. Their practices, inspired by the presence of the Firebolt broom, had been flawless, and even Oliver was optimistic. 

"You know what we've got to do," he had said in the locker rooms. "If we lose this match, we're out of the running. Just—just fly like you did in practice yesterday and we'll be okay!"

"The only good thing that would come out of us losing is that Percy would lose his bet with Penelope," George had muttered.

Katie's mind was brought back to the present as Madam Hooch said, "Wood, Davies, shake hands." The two Captains shook hands firmly. "Mount your brooms…"

Oliver looked over quickly at Katie and gave her the thumbs-up. Then the grave look he wore during matches reappeared on his face as Madam Hooch continued, "On my whistle…three… two…one…"

"And they're off!" Lee Jordan shouted through his megaphone. "And the big excitement this match is the Firebolt that Harry Potter is flying for Gryffindor. According to _Which Broomstick_, the Firebolt's going to be the broom of choice for the national teams at this year's World Championship—"

" Jordan, would you mind telling us what's going on in the match?" Professor McGonagall interrupted.

By then, Katie had taken possession of the Quaffle and was now heading for the goal. She put on a burst of speed as two Ravenclaw Chasers appeared on either side of her, and then she scored the first goal of the match.

A while later, Gryffindor was only fifty points ahead. _C'mon, Harry!_ Katie silently urged the Seeker. _Ravenclaw will win if Cho gets the Snitch._

She heard Oliver yelling, "Harry, this is no time to be a gentleman!!Knock her off her broom if you have to!"

Suddenly, there was hush in the crowd and Katie looked around momentarily. Right below the direction where Harry was flying stood three dementors. Harry quickly reached for his wand and shouted a spell. Something silvery-white shot out of the wand and knocked the dementors off their feet. Moment later, Harry caught the Snitch and held it triumphantly in the air.

Screaming and laughing, the Gryffindor team surrounded Harry, each of the girls giving him a kiss and Wood shouting, "That's my boy!" over and over again. A crowd of Gryffindors pushed forward toward the teammates to embrace them, but Katie noticed Professor Lupin quickly pulling Harry to the side. The professor said something to him, then led him to the side of the field.

Katie, who had forgotten about the dementors like everyone else, followed them with her eyes curiously. When she saw what Lupin pointed at, she laughed aloud and tugged on Oliver's sleeve.

"Look!" she said, pointing at Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Marcus Flint, who were trying unsuccessfully to disentangle themselves from the dark robes they'd been wearing under the pretense of being dementors.

"An unworthy trick!" Professor McGonagall was screaming furiously at them. "A low and coward attempt to sabotage the Gryffindor Seeker! Detention for all of you, and fity points from Slytherin! I shall be speaking to Professor Dumbledore about this, make no mistake!!"

"I guess we won in more ways than one," Oliver grinned as he kissed the top of Katie's head.

* * *

"It's a bit unnerving walking past those guys, isn't it?" Oliver said to Katie on their way back to the common room the next day. 

Katie looked at the burly trolls, who had been hired as security guards to protect the Fat Lady. (A/N: if you're familiar with this part of _HP and the POA, _you can skip this paragraph, as it is only a summary.) Last night, after the joyful celebration of Gryffindor's win had finally ended and everyone had gone to bed, there had been a huge commotion. Ron had been ranting about seeing Sirius Black standing over his bed holding a knife. The resulting chaos had been so bad that Professor McGonagall had stormed in demanding an explanation. Ron told her about Sirius Black, and when the professor refused to believe him, he told her to ask Sir Cadogan for proof. Sir Cadogan had happily revealed that Sirius had read a whole week's worth of passwords off a piece of paper. The whole castle was then searched and no one slept that night. Poor Neville, who had written the week's passwords down, was forbidden to go on Hogsmeade trips. In addition, the Fat Lady was restored to her original position, though she demanded protection. Which was why the trolls were there now.

"Why do they do that?" Katie wondered, watching the trolls comparing the size of their clubs.

Oliver grinned and joked, "It reminds me of guys who compare how many inches long their dic—"

Before he could finish, Professor McGonagall stepped out of the portrait hole. "Wood, there you are," she said to Oliver as soon as she saw him. "I've been looking for you. Professor Dumbledore wishes to see you immediately."

* * *

A/N: I tried to be sneaky about the whole bracelet thing, but I guess it didn't work; you guys knew it was Oliver. You're all too smart for me! 

Also, for you creative people out there, go to harrypotterfanfiction. They're having a contest and the grand prize winner gets a prepaid copy of _HP and the Half-Blood Prince_. I personally am not going to do it because I'll never get a story done in time for the deadline, but I encourage all of you to try.

Question: Does anyone know if J.K. Rowling said anything about the cover of _HP and the HBP_? I went to Amazon and the cover was shown as being purple, even though the space for the picture is blank because it probably hasn't been released yet. But does anyone know if it's really purple?!


	15. Puddlemere United

Thanks, as always, to my reviewers:

**jessamine- **you'll see!  
**Girl with the Evil Computer**- you found the carpet- I'm so proud of you! Did you notice what color it was too? lol!  
**TooSweetForWords**- oops. didn't mean to make her inhumane, as you say.  
**Schnebz-** you're so smart! yes, it is Puddlemere United.  
**banana-princess93**- oh i hope you do try! (and win, of course!) I really would too if I only had more time but let me know how every thing turns out! omg how great would it be to win a prepaid copyof the book? I'm broke at the moment and can't afford a thirty-something dollar book... oh and also it was fun talking to you online; hope to do it again soon sometime.  
**mello80**- thanks!... ur not going to take a shot at the contest? aww... well i guess you have more important stories to write. and anyway, i don't even know if the deadline passed or not!  
**Padfoot's Sidekick**- am I too obvious? You guessed exactly- it's Puddlemere United.  
**Tears-of-Love-Tears-of-Hate**- the ff police! AH! And you tell me _I'm _sneaky! lol  
**NaploeanGiveMeYourTots- **you changed your penname! I really liked your old one... but this one is cool too; you really do have a thing for making up interesting names!  
**Doodleflip**- damn I couldn't fool anyone about that bracelet could I:) lol oh well  
**Star of the North**- no of course you weren't babbling! I was actually very glad to know what you thought of the P.O.V.s. Please feel free to comment on anything else... oh and I really should start reading your other story too. I have no idea why I didn't already!

Surprise, surprise- most of the stuff in this chapter is mine. Except for the characters, that is; I didn't even make up the name of the manager of Puddlemere United. But I finally get to take credit for most of it!

**_Chapter 15_**

_I walk into Dumbledore's office, my heart pounding. What could he possibly want me for? I know for sure I didn't do anything wrong; well at least, I don't think I did… I've just had a thought—could it be about Puddl— _

_"Ah, Oliver," Dumbledore says, his voice breaking into my thoughts. He stands up as I enter the room. There is a man sitting across from him, but his back is turned toward me so I can't see his face. _

_"Hello Professor," I say. _

_"Oliver," Dumbledore says, smiling, "I'd like you to meet Philbert Deverill,"—the stranger stands and turns toward me, and I see a face that I've always seen in the papers and Quidditch magazines—"the manager of Puddlemere United." _

_Philbert Deverill shakes my hand firmly, while I'm still somewhat in a daze. The manager of Puddlemere United… was shaking my hand! Was this some kind of dream? _

_"I'll step out for a moment while you speak," Dumbledore says, heading toward the door. "Philbert, feel free to sit in my chair, and Oliver, you don't have to remain standing!" He smiles and leaves. _

_Mr. Deverill moves to sit in Dumbledore's chair. He leans back, forming a steeple with his fingers. _

_"So, Mr. Wood," he says, "I have a proposition to make." I look at him questioningly, and try to look calm and composed when in reality my heartbeat is speeding up with excitement and thudding in my chest like crazy. "How would you like to play for Puddlemere United?" _

_Even though I half-expected to hear those words already, they were a shock to me nonetheless. "I… I'd love to, sir." _

_"Good," he said, smiling for the first time. "And don't call me sir, whatever you do; it sounds so formal and makes me feel old." He laughs. "The only thing I'll settle for is Bert. My parents, being the lovable insane people they are, named me Philbert and my older brother Philip, so obviously he took the nickname Phil and I was left with 'Bert.'" _

_I laugh with him. His friendly manner immediately puts me at ease. _

_"But I'm calling you Wood," he continues. "I make it a habit to call the entire team by their last names. _

Team. _I'm going to be on the team… _

_"The first thing you have to do is a bit of annoying form-filling and a mountain of paperwork—the contract, etc, that sort of thing. Then we'll have to get you proper uniform and equipment." _

_"Excuse me, sir—er, Bert," I say, "I'm just curious… when did you find me and how? What makes you think I'm qualified?" _

_"Right, right," he says, nodding. "I forgot to explain all that. You see, my scout went to one of your practices, and he was very pleased by what he saw, and reported back to me. I went to your match against Ravenclaw— which was absolutely brilliant, by the way— and shared my scout's opinion that you were perfect for the team. In fact, people like you are usually supposed to have a follow-up try-out at the stadium after the scout "discovers" them, but I managed to get you out of that since I'm so convinced that we need you." _

_"Thanks," I say, rather embarrassed but pleased. _

_"I'm only telling you the truth," he says frankly. "I mean every word I say. However, I'm afraid you'll have to settle for being areserve player when you first sign on. We have a main Keeper and you'll sub in for him once in a while. You'll practice regularly with the team, though, as well as the reserves for the other positions... But I doubt you'll be areserve for long." He grins and says, "Darren, our current Keeper, finally proposed to his girlfriend and wants to retired early and settle down. You'll take his place and soon you'll be needing areserve of your own." _

_Then he stands up. "Well that's that. I came today just to know if you were interested. I'll be back soon with all the necessary paperwork, and then you'll have to do a lot of signing and all that other fun stuff." _

_We step out of the room, where Dumbledore is waiting for us outside. He smiles and says, "Is it all set?" _

_"It's all set," Bert says with satisfaction. He turns to me and says, "Walk with me down to my carriage, Wood?" _

_"Sure," I reply. _

_As we exit the school and walk down to the horseless carriage that's waiting at the bottom of the hill, Bert grows silent and looks thoughtful. I notice for the first time that he walks with a limp. _

_At last, he says, "I used to play for Puddlemere, myself. We were good then. Really good. We won dozens of titles not only in __England__, but in all of __Europe__. Then came this one important match that could very well affect the rest of our lives. If we won, we would've gone for the World Cup." He takes a deep breath, as if what he's going to say next really hurts him. "The day of the match arrived and we thought we would win without doubt. But then I screwed up. Then I screwed up again. And again. And we lost." _

_I look sideways at Bert. The cheerful look on his face is gone, and he looks grave and solemn. _

_"I blamed myself entirely. We lost because of me. The others tried not to show it but I could tell what they were really thinking. I was devastated. That night, I went to a Muggle pub and got so shamefully drunk that I have nearly no recollection of what happened. Afterwards, I was told that I was walking in the middle of the street like an idiot when a car came around the corner. _

_"When I came to, I was in the hospital, and saw that my leg was hurt—I would have a permanent limp, and I would never be able to play again. I didn't go back to Puddlemere after that to explain anything; I was too ashamed. Eight years later, I got a letter. The manager had retired and wanted to know if I wanted to take his place, and said everyone wanted me back—if not as a fellow teammate, then as their new manager. Eventually the old members were replaced by younger ones after they retired, but I'm still here." _

_I don't know what to say. What would be the most appropriate thing to say at a time like this? Fortunately, he continues: _

_"The team is good now, but it isn't up to snuff. It's nothing compared to what it was before. That's why I need you, Wood. I haven't seen such dedication and determination in anyone for a while now." _

_"Thank you," I say quietly, full of gratitude. He nods. We have finally reached the carriage, and he pulls the door open. _

_"I have great faith in you, Wood," he said, turning toward me once more. "I can relate to you. I was just like you once." Then, in a quieter voice, he says, "I was Keeper, too." _

_He gives me a small smile and pats me on the shoulder in a friendly, paternal gesture. Then he climbs into the carriage and it drives away.

* * *

_

Katie was waiting for Oliver in the common room. As soon as he walked through the portrait hole, she jumped up and ran over to him.

"What is it?" she said quickly. "What did he say?" Oliver looked dazed and his eyes were slightly unfocused, as if he were in some other world. Katie snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Hello? Oliver, are you there?"

He snapped out of his daze and shook his head a little. "Yeah…… oh God I can't believe it!" He picked her up suddenly and spun her round and round. When he finally put her back on her feet, he gave her a quick peck on the lips and his grin stretched from ear to ear.

Katie laughed. "Don't even tell me," she said, "it has something to do with—"

"Puddlemere United," they said together.

"Oh Oliver!" she exclaimed, flinging her arms round his neck. "I'm so happy for you!"

"Thanks, Kates," he said, kissing her again. "You don't know how much this means to me."

"I think I do," she corrected. "You've been talking on and on about Puddlemere for ages!... So you're going to be on the team then?"

"Yeah," he said happily. "I'll start as areserve Keeper but the manager thinks I'll move up as the official Keeper once the current one retires. I'm going to join the team as soon I leave Hogwarts."

The happy expression on Katie's face faded and she looked down at her feet. "Oh," she said quietly.

"What is it?" Oliver said, tilting her chin up.

"Can we go somewhere private?" Katie asked, noticing the curious glances that were cast their way.

Oliver led her up to his room. "Now will you tell me what's wrong?" he said anxiously. "You were so happy and then all of a sudden… you weren't."

"I don't know. It's just that… it hit me all of sudden—the thought that you're leaving. For good. Forever." Her bottom lip trembled. "I half-knew it all along—that you were leaving—but the thought never really sank in. Until now."

"So that's what worries you?" he said, pulling her in against his chest. "That I'm leaving?"

"Yeah," she said, her voice muffled by his chest as she buried her face into his shirt. "And you'll have so many more experiences and… and your Hogwarts years will seem so insignificant, and—"

"Katie, you're being ridiculous. I had a great time at Hogwarts and I'll never forget my years here. Especially this one. Just because I'm leaving doesn't mean I'll forget all this and be wrapped up in my new life, right?"

"I guess so," she said doubtfully.

"Look, even while I'm playing with Puddlemere and trying to make something of myself, I'll still remember Hogwarts and you. Especially you."

"So you won't forget?"

"Never," he said firmly. His words and the kiss that followed cast Katie's doubts aside.

* * *

A/N: sorry for two things: the shortness of the chapter and the corny fluff! But even though you don't like the length of the chappie, you don't mind the fluff, do you :) 


	16. Montague's Revenge

Thanks to my lovely reviewers (I love you all!):

**Girl with the Evil Computer**- hurray for finding the missing sock! Now where's the star? lol. And yes, I do agree with you that Scottish accents must be the sexiest ones in the world, even as sexy as British ones! I'm _so_ marrying a Scottish or British guy, just for his accent. :)  
**TooSweet4Words**- thank you!  
**Star of the North**- you asked some very good questions, being the very perceptive person you are. :) I'll answer them below. Thanks so much for always reviewing.  
**NapoloeonRocksMyTots**- i've never seen Napoleon Dynamite but my friend says it's hilarious. I have to see it someday… aw and sorry about your ex. If he really was like that, he didn't deserve an awesome person like you in the first place.  
**Maffy Jablo**- aw thanks so much! I truly appreciate your support. :)  
**mello80**- whew! Fluff's not too corny? Well it's your opinion that counts! Thanks for the review… btw sry i haven't been R/R for a while; i'm going to catch up on all my ff reading over midwinter break (which is next week! Hurray!)  
**banana-princess93**- oh no you threw the story out? I'm sure it was fine. oh well…. and no, you did not sound like an idiot online; in fact, you sounded perfectly sane to me :)  
**Padfoot's Sidekick**- sorry for the boring-ness (if that's a word). I put in a Weasley prank this time.  
**Doodleflip**- thanks! so glad you don't mind the fluff… :)

_Hey guys! Sorry for the increasingly long breaks between updates. Anyway, Star of the North asked two important questions: Will there be any more correspondence with PoA? (the whole thing about Sirius, the Shrieking Shack, Lupin/the werewolf, etc) and is the story going to end in Katie's 4th year? For the first question—no, I don't think it'll relate much to PoA from now on. I don't think the rest of the school found out about the whole __midnight__ adventure thing… or did they? Anyway, I'll mention Ron's broken leg and that he was hospitalized, but I don't think I'll include all the other stuff. Answer to second question: yes, it'll end with Katie's 4th year. There's only so much I can write about her and Oliver's relationship! However, I _am_ hoping to have a follow-up story in Alicia and Angelina's POV in their 7th year, so stay tuned… _

_Unfortunately things don't work out as well as planned. I tried and tried for twenty-four chapters but I just don't have enough material. I'm already stretching it as it is; the chapters will probably get shorter and shorter. So unless I have a sudden inspiration or one of you gives me a good idea, the story will have twenty-one chapters, I think. Sorry 'bout that; I'm just as reluctant to let go of this story as you are! _

**_Chapter 16 _**

The Easter holidays that came around were far from relaxing. Everyone, especially Oliver, who had to take the N.E.W.T.s this year, was already being swamped with preparatory work for the exams. Then one day during a long, tedious study session in the common room, Fred and George, who were playing wizard chess, knocked their chessboard off the table.

"That's it!" Fred yelled over the clatter as the chess pieces crashed onto the floor. Everyone in the formerly-quiet common room jumped and looked at the twins.

"This is so _boring!_" George shouted. "Why are we sitting here studying when we should be making the most of our lives?"

"But you're _not_ studying," Angelina muttered into her book.

"We only live once you know!" Fred complained, not having heard Angelina.

"QUIET!" Percy roared. "People here are trying to get some work done, unlike you. If you were smart, you'd be taking out your books and trying to pass at least _one_ O.W.L.!"

"Stuff it, Percy," George said, glaring at his older brother. "No one likes to hear you speak."

There were titters and sniggers from around the common room. Percy turned very red and shouted, "OUT! Get OUT! _NOW!_"

"We wouldn't have stayed even if you paid us," Fred said haughtily as they left.

"Just watch," George said, almost threateningly. "What we're going to do next will knock everyone off their feet."

The next day, a rancid, putrid smell circulated the building. The staff and students of Hogwarts ran through the hallways holding handkerchiefs to their noses. In a sense, the Weasleys were right in that people were "knocked off their feet;" several students fainted from the horrible smell. It took Argus Filch four hours to rid the building of the smell.

"Why did you do it?" Angelina complained to the twins later in the common room.

The mischievous red-headed twins looked at each other, grinned, and shrugged. "Does everything need a reason behind it?" George asked, and Fred followed up with, "We thought up the idea, thought it was bloody brilliant, and… it just happened. Besides, it was dull as tombs in this building with everyone studying their arses off, so we thought we'd be generous enough to provide a mild, entertaining distraction."

"Mild?" Alicia echoed in disbelief. "I almost died. What did you do?"

"Put fish in the vents," they proudly said together.

"Rather ingenious, if I do say so myself," Fred grinned.

"What?" George said innocently as the girls rolled their eyes and walked away.

* * *

_The Weasleys' latest trick was a welcome distraction, but I'm finding that my mind if wandering from important things more than I can afford. It probably has to do with the fact that Bert came two days ago with all the necessary paperwork. He's giving me three weeks to fill everything out, and the only two things that are on my mind lately are Katie and Quidditch. _

_Suddenly a foot juts out in front of me as I walk down the hallway. I step over it just in time and barely avoid tripping over it. The foot belongs to none other than Montague. His friends snicker._

_"Watch it, you klutz," he sneers. He's never really forgiven me for taking Katie away from him. I ignore him and keep walking away. He's not good enough to talk to. _

_"Hey I'm _talking_ to you," he says, stepping in front of me again, looking at me impetuously. I can't believe this kid. After getting a beating from Katie and me that day in the closet, he suddenly has the nerve to try to pissme off again? _

_"Get a life, Montague," I say in a bored voice as I brush past him. _

_"Think you're too good to talk to me?" he says, stepping in front of me again. _

_"How did you read my mind?" I say dryly. This time I push him roughly out of the way. _

_"Why do you even associate with her?" he says suddenly. By "her," I'm assuming he means Katie. "She's not a pureblood like us."_

_"What does that have anything to do with it?" I retort. "You think I care?"_

_"She's got dirty blood." He smiles slyly. "She isn't good for anything."_

_I can feel myself heating up with anger. First he chases after her and now he's saying he's too good for her? This piece of trash is saying he's better than Katie? It's true that she has mixed blood, but that doesn't make her worse than me or him or any other pureblood. Just look at her— she's amazing at Quidditch and has top marks, and her sister, Lizzy— she's had more success so far now, in her early twenties, than this prat will see in a lifetime. _

_"Watch what you say or you'll regret it," I say through clenched teeth. _

_"Ooh, I'm so scared," he sneers. "Go ahead. Make me regret it." _

_I try to control my anger and walk away. Whatever he says shouldn't bother me. _

_"She's a _mudblood,_" he says in a loud stage whisper down the hall, putting extra emphasis on the word "mudblood." _

_I whirl around and smash my fist into his nose. He flies backward and lands on his arse on the floor. This idiot has gone too far. _

_I stand over him, fuming. He's grabbing his nose, from which blood is flowing profusely. Obviously he can't get enoughof getting his nose beaten the crap out of. You would think the whole closet scene a while ago would have taught him a lesson, but apparently not. _

_Suddenly, Montague's foot hooks around mine and jerks it back, and I trip and fall onto the floor with him. As soon as I'm down, he hurls himself toward me. I roll away quickly and he crashes to the floor. He tries to get at me again, the blood from his nose dripping down both his robes and mine, and manages to scratch the side of my face. _

_"You fight like a girl," I mock him, shoving him onto his stomach. I grab his arm and twist back, and he screams. "Take back what you said!" I shout. By now a crowd has gathered around us, but I don't care. The only thing I care about is making him pay for what he called Katie. _

_"I take it back!" he screams immediately. What a wimp. But as soon as I stand up and let him go, he hisses, "She's a mudblood. Mudblood, mudblood, mudblood!" _

_I've heard the phrase "blinded with rage" many times before, but I never thought about it much. Now I know what it means, because as I land on him and grab his neck, I can only see red. _

* * *

Katie felt guilty for thinking it, but she was sick of Oliver raving about Puddlemere United twenty-four seven. It only reminded her more of how it was going to take Oliver away from her. 

She knew it wasn't Puddlemere United's fault; after all, Oliver would be graduating no matter what. But still, there was a part of her that made her want to blame Quidditch. Ironically, she never had to worry about competing with another girl for Oliver's attention; it was only Quidditch that she competed with.

As she mulled on these thoughts as she made her way to Gryffindor tower, Alicia collided into her and grabbed her. She was breathing in little gasps, as if she had been running.

"I've been looking all over for you," she gasped. "There's trouble—Oliver and Montague are in a fight and it's looking really bad. Middle of the second-floor corridor. Quick."

"Aren't you coming with me?" Katie asked, looking panicked.

"I'm sorry, Katie, I would, but you know I get nauseous at the sight of blood…" Alicia said, already beginning to look queasy.

"There's blood?" Katie cried.

"You better hurry," was Alicia's only reply.

Katie hurried up down the hall, her heart beginning to pound. What had provoked Oliver into fighting Montague? Her boyfriend usually didn't give in to violent urges, so whatever Montague had done must have been extreme…

She came to a corner and barely managed to avoid running into two people. Instinctively, she pulled back, and they didn't see her. As they walked by, she saw that it was Vivian and an unfamiliar man.

"Yes, my cousin plays for the Tornadoes," Vivian was saying in simpering voice. "He told me about you, Mr. Deverill, and says you are a great manager."

_Mr. Deverill. This must be the same Philbert Deverill that Oliver's always talking about_, Katie thought.

"Why, I'm flattered," Mr. Deverill said, smiling.

"Is it true that you're signing on Oliver Wood to play for your team?"

"Yes, it is. I have great hopes for him…"

Their voices faded as they moved away. Katie peered around the corridor and her eyes widened. They were heading straight toward the middle of the second-floor corridor.

* * *

Katie ran like she'd never run before. Taking an alternate route to the location of the fight, she managed to arrive there before Philbert Deverill and Vivian did. 

_It's a trap_, she thought desperately as she ran. _Montague and Vivian planned this together…_

Katie skidded to a stop as she saw the crowd watching the fight. She pushed through until she reached the center. One of Oliver's friends was trying to restrain Oliver, while none of Montague's friends made an effort to stop the fight.

"What is going on?" Professor McGonagall's furious voice echoed as she shoved her way to the middle. "Gentlemen, your behavior appalls me!" She pulled them away from each other, miraculously avoiding their blows. Oliver's friend Dave quickly moved in and grabbed him just as he was about to get at Montague again.

"Oliver, please," Katie pleaded, touching his arm. At the sound of her voice, the harsh look in Oliver's eyes faded a bit, but his anger returned in a rush when he saw Montague leering at Katie.

"Just look at you!" Professor McGonagall was shouting. "Setting a poor example for your peers, especially you, Wood! What were you _thinking?_ Just look at you!" she repeated, indicating Montague's face, which was covered with purple, blotchy bruises. Oliver did not get hurt even half as badly. Even though Montague was bulkier, Oliver had the height, strength, and agility that Montague did not have, and this worked in his favor.

The crowd began to thin out; the excitement of the fight was over. But just then, Katie heard the sound of someone clearing his throat and she spun around. Oliver, who was still glaring fiercely at Montague, didn't notice until he heard her sharp intake of breath. He glanced at her quickly and followed her gaze, and the first thing he saw was the triumphant smile on Vivian's face. Then, slowly, he turned his eyes upward, and looked straight into the furious, blazing eyes of Philbert Deverill.

* * *

A/N: uh oh... 

About the Weasleys' prank—it's actually based on an actual event, believe it or not. At my school on Senior Prank Day last year, two guys thought it would be hilarious to sneak into the school in the middle of the night and put _fish_ (of all things) into the vents. Of course, all the air in the ventilating system circulates around the whole school... you can probably guess the rest. You don't want to know how bad that smelled; it stunk up the school for more than a week!


	17. When Dreams Die

A big hug and kiss for all my reviewers:

**Schnebz**- uh oh… i hope i didn't put any ideas into your head! Those pranksters got suspended for "trespassing on school property during non-school hours" and "violating school property" or something ridiculous like that. But I'm sure you won't do anything too drastic… (or will you?) lol. And about hooking Montague and Vivian up… not a bad idea :)  
**banana-princess93**- Katie's hickey is doing fine, thank you. It wishes to tell you that it appreciates your concern and that it hopes you have a nice day…. lol! Thanks for reviewing.  
**chrissy**- well you'll see!  
**Padfoot's Sidekick**- hope it's not boring anymore! I'm glad you liked the last chapter.  
**Star of the North**- yes, Montague should pay! And of course, as in all typical stories, he has to suffer, I suppose. :) And about the questions- no problem; I enjoyed answering them. Thank _you_ for being such an involved reader and asking them!  
**NapoloeonRocksMyTots**- no no no don't worry! No breakup in sight :) Actually, about the whole "getting Montague's ass kicked," I'm having trouble deciding how to punish the naughty boy. Have any ideas?  
**mello80**- oops sorry about the cliffies! But they're the only way to get a reader's attention, so... :) it was fun talking to you online again!  
**Doodleflip**- kicked off the team? NEVER! well, actually... (bats eyelashes innocently) ...I'm so cruel...  
**TooSweetForWords**- thanks!

Hmmm... well everyone seemed to like the Weasleys' fish prank, which is good. Want to know even more? It's actually even worse now that I bothered to find out the details from my friend. The pranksters mashed up these poor little goldfish and put them either in the vents or the radiators... or both? Now let's all have a moment of silence out of respect for the poor mashed-up goldfish...

_silence..._

Okay, that's enough; I can't stand silence for too long! Anyway, central message of the story- nothing smells worse than mashed-up goldfish stuck in the vents/radiators/both of your school.

But I digress. Enough on the fish; more on my story. (yay!) I think the decision's permanent now- there'll be twenty-one chapters. So, including this one, five more left (unless I did my math incorrectly...) I'll clear things up and put in a final countdown in the A/N at the end. So, without further ado, since you're all sick to death of me talking, here's...

**_Chapter 17_**

The Bludger swung toward Katie, sent flying toward her with a loud SMACK from Oliver's bat. She just barely avoided having her head taken off by the unforgiving black ball, and then she hit it back toward Oliver.

It was a few hours after the fight. After the silent exchange between Oliver and Bert Deverill, Bert had walked swiftly away. Montague, though he was struggling to walk properly because of his many injuries, was gloating, and Vivian had her arms crossed and was looking very smug. Professor McGonagall had rushed Montague to the hospital wing, and for the moment, Oliver wasn't faced with the consequences… yet. Both Katie and Oliver knew that the final blow wouldcome sooner or later.

But for the moment, they were on the Quidditch field, hitting Bludgers toward each other. Even though neither was a Beater, they were more skilled than most with broom, bat, and Bludger. In any case, it helped Oliver deal with his anger; he sent the Bludger flying with hard, furious whacks, venting his rage on the ball.

It almost scared Katie, how furious he was, especially because he was usually so genial and mild-tempered. She had never seen him so angry since he'd caught Montague trying to hurt her in the closet many weeks ago. She watched him closely as they beat the Bludger back and forth without a word; his heavy breathing, his tense grip on the bat, and the beads of sweat dripping down his forehead did not escape her notice.

"Wood!"

Katie's heart skipped a beat. It was Professor McGonagall, standing below them, her hand shielding her eyes from glare of the setting sun that was facing her. Oliver's punishment was about to begin.

Katie looked anxiously over at her boyfriend, who calmly caught the Bludger and flew with it to the ground. She followed him and landed on the field.

"Yes, Professor?" Oliver said quietly.

"Professor Dumbledore wishes to see you," Professor McGonagall said tersely, her mouth set in a thin line. Katie remembered how the Transfiguration teacher had spoken almost exactly the same words to Oliver a few weeks ago, but ironically, it had been in an entirely different situation.

Oliver nodded, then bent over to strap in the Bludger inside the case with the other balls. As he straightened up, he murmured into Katie's ear, "Don't worry, Kates; I'll be fine. Promise you won't worry?"

Even now he was trying to take care of her, and her heart went out to him. "No, I can't promise you that," she answered quietly. He looked at her for a moment, and then left with Professor McGonagall.

* * *

_I sit down, filled with dread, in front of Bert at the desk in Dumbledore's office once more, exactly the way we sat when we first met. Except this time, Dumbledore remains in the room, and sits off to the side. _

_Bert looks at me with disapproval. "Wood." He forms a steeple with his fingers. "You disappoint me. I had such high hopes for you." _

_I avoid his eyes and look down into my lap. _

_"I thought you were perfect for the team. I thought we finally had the Keeper we needed… And I thought wrong." He leans forward in his chair. "You think we can tolerate that sort of behavior on a team? You know what it'll do to the team, having a violence-prone player on it? You think we'd get anything done?" _

_He doesn't seem to understand that I don't get into fights often. Why is he accusing me like this? _

_He pauses. "But I'll give you a chance, Wood. Explain yourself, and why you did it, and perhaps I shall change my mind. Now will you explain?" _

_No, I refuse. I refuse to tattle and blame the fight on Montague like a two-year-old, and try to win my place back on the team by simpering and sucking up like a servile little wretch. I refuse to degrade myself like that. And I can't explain the whole Katie-Montague thing, and reveal what could be potentially embarrassing and hurtful to her. I just can't do that to Katie. _

_"No," I reply, looking up at him for the first time. _

_A muscle in Bert's cheek twitches, and he looks like he's having difficulty checking his anger. "Fine," he replies angrily. "There are plenty of other good players out there; my scout has spotted many good flyers at Durmstrang. And though he is not a Keeper or a 7th year as of yet, I'm still keeping an eye on Cedric Diggory." _

_That is the gravest injury of all. The thought of Diggory, and not I, playing for Puddlemere United... _

_"You _do_ realize what you've lost?" Bert says, trying to speak calmly. "You're off the team, Wood." He stands up quickly and with a "Good day, Professor Dumbledore," to the headmaster, he exits the room, as if staying in the same room with me longer than he has to would kill him. Then I, too, stand to leave, and before I do, I take the risk of looking over at Dumbledore. _

_The look of disappointment on his face hurts most of all. _

* * *

A/N: told ya the chapters would be getting shorter! 

_the final countdown..._

ch. 18- how they deal with it  
ch. 19- Quidditch final  
ch. 20- OWLS/NEWTS Oliver's last days at Hogwarts  
ch. 21-the end...? (sniffle)

hope that clears things up for y'all!

PS- and _please_ don't flip out about the whole Oliver-getting-kicked-off-Puddlemere United thing. Just trust me (and forget about how I tried to trick you about the ring a few chapters ago!) Can't you just see the halo around my head?


	18. Desperate Measures

All my reviewers... MWAH!

**mello80** (whos not signin in rite now) **-**nice pen name! lol. yes, there will be sweet revenge... what do you think should happen to Vivian? Give me some ideas...  
**NapoloeonRocksMyTots**- yes if only all guys were like Oliver... sigh... you can so totally tell he's completely made up because, as you said, no guy is ever truly like that. Unfortunately. As for revenge- Montague's is all planned out but I don't know what to do to Vivian. Any ideas?  
**Star of the North**- how did a dog get into your math class? wow that's pretty bizarre... anyway, glad you liked the last chapter, as short as it was. This one will be longer, fortunately, but with as much emotion, I think.  
**Doodleflip**- yes don't you love how chivalrous he is? Too bad guys aren't like that for real... thanks for reviewing!  
**Kitkat/Gemm'n2590**- i like koosh balls... lol i'm so random. Anyway, I hope your little catharsis session w/ the koosh ball helped release your anger. :) don't worry, everyone who deserves it will get their due revenge...hurray for revenge!  
**banana-princess93**- the hickey says it's having a very nice day and thank you very much but it's fading away and will never see you again so goodbye. ;) and no, don't worry it's not AU.  
**Maffy Jiblo**- i read and reviewed your story, and I'm so glad you like mine. good luck with "the fate of two roommates."  
**Padfoot's Sidekick- **i hurried w/ this chapter so you wouldn't explode... :)  
**Schnebz**- PIGS? oh dear... i can only imagine all the chaos there will be! Actually one year a particularly mischievious senior class let out rats and chickens, and one chicken was so scared cuz all the kids were crowding around it that it like had a heart attack and died! isn't that awful? then my school, being insane, called ALL the pet stores in the area and traced the students who bought the animals! ahh senior prank day... can't wait til my own! good luck with those pigs...;)

_Don't worry so much about Oliver; he's in good hands... Katie's, of course! _:) _Coming up…. more Weasley action, more depression, and of course, more fluff!_

**_Chapter 18 _**

Katie waited anxiously for Oliver in the common, biting down on her nails nervously. She'd broken out of that habit years ago, but she couldn't help returning to it at a time like this. Angelina and Alicia sat on either side of her. They'd given up a while ago trying to find out what was wrong, for Katie didn't say a word, but only bit down on her fingernails. Now they sat quietly, waiting for the unknown. There were a few hushed conversations among Gryffindors, but for the most part, there was a tense quiet in the common room. They all knew about the fight by now, and that something had happened to Oliver, and since most of them liked him, they worried for his sake and were seething at Montague.

"I was walking down the hall when it started…" someone was saying in a hushed tone. "…called her a mudblood… Oliver was furious and just lost it…"

Katie's head jerked up in an instant, and her eyes focused on the boy who'd just spoken. It was apparent to Angelina and Alicia that she had not known this, and what she'd just heard distressed her.

"For me," Katie whispered, her voice audible to only her best friends. "He's always doing things for me, to defend me…it's not fair to him…"

"It only shows how much he cares about you," Angelina said soothingly. "Now don't start blaming yourself."

Suddenly the Fat Lady's portrait swung open and everyone leaned forward to see. Then they settled back, a bit disappointed, when they saw it was only the Weasley twins.

"Thanks, we really appreciate the welcome," George said dryly.

"Hey, why the long faces?" Fred said, looking around. "This isn't about Wood, is it? 'Cause we think the beating he gave that slimy Slytherin was bloody brilliant." Angelina shot him a _look_, and immediately his grin faded and he looked apologetically at Katie. "Sorry, Bell, I wasn't thinking…"

"No problem," she replied quietly.

After a pause, George said loudly, "This is bloody ridiculous. What are we sitting around here for? Let's get revenge! If Wood gets kicked off Puddlemere United, I'm going to _kill_ that Slytherin prat…" He made a strangling motion with his hands.

"I agree!" Fred shouted. "I say we declare war on Montague. All in favor of kicking some Slytherin arse say 'Aye!'"

"AYE!"

"Fred, George!" Percy yelled. "That's _enough!_ We're having enough disciplinary problems in this school as it is, thanks to Oliver, and we don't need—"

"He's one of your bloody _roommates_!" George roared at his older brother. "And you're not even going to defend him?"

"I would defend him if I did not have to work for the sake of discipline and order…"

"You bloody think you're God, now!" Fred shouted with disgust. "Someone should really take a pin and pop that over-inflated head of yours, Bighead Boy. In fact, me and George'll be more than happy to do it!"

"Empty threats," Percy said haughtily. "You know, you two'll never amount to any good… consider yourselves lucky I didn't tell Mum about—"

"Shut up!" George yelled, "or I'll tell everyone about all the sex dreams you have about Penelope."

Percy turned red, and Fred laughed, "Oh, could it be? The precious Head Boy has naughty thoughts?...and oh!" He let out an exaggerated gasp, "…does he really write them all down in a diary he keeps locked up in his sock drawer?"

"You weren't supposed to be in my room!" Percy roared.

"Oh ho ho!" Fred snickered. "So he admits it!"

"That's it! I'm turning you in for the whipped cream incident!" Percy shouted, now beet-red. "It went against my conscience to keep it quiet, but now…" It was obvious that the argument wasn't quite exactly about Oliver anymore.

"You have no proof!" George crowed delightedly. "There's no proof it was us!"

The door swung open but everyone, now deeply involved in watching the hilarious banter between the Weasley brothers, did not notice. Before anyone knew it, Oliver was brushing his way past the Weasleys and was heading up the stairs to his dorm, looking extremely harassed.

"Wood!" the three Weasleys said at the same time.

"What happened?" the twins demanded.

"You shouldn't have given in to your violent urges.," Percy said conceitedly. "Violence is not the answer. In one moment following an extremely rash decision, you lost the chance of a lifetime. In one moment—gone—just like that," he said with a snap of his fingers.

"You know what?" Oliver snapped, whirling to face Percy. "I've been one of the only people in this school who would listen to a stuck-up prick like you all these years when no one else would, but now I'm not going to anymore. So why don't you shove off and keep your nose out of other people's business for once?"

Then he turned on his heel and stormed up to his room, while Percy's mouth dropped open and he stood gaping at Oliver's retreating back. Even Katie was stunned. During seven years of patiently dealing with Percy as one of his roommates, Oliver had rarely said a harsh word to the obnoxious Head Boy.

"I think I should go to him," she said to Angelina and Alicia. As she left, she could hear Fred muttering to Percy, who was still stunned, "Well you deserved it."

Katie reached Oliver's room and went inside. After she'd closed the door quietly, she saw that Oliver was sitting on the couch that he and his friends had set up in the middle of the room. His head was in his hands and he stared blankly at the carpet. Wordlessly, Katie moved to stand behind the couch, and slipped her arms around Oliver, who was still hot and sweaty from their practice earlier.

He grabbed one of her hands and held it tightly in his. "Oh God," he said hoarsely. "I don't know what to do." It pained her to hear what he said. It was unsettling to know that Oliver, who had always taken control of his life, was at a loss as to what to do.

"Don't worry; everything'll work out in the end."

"Yeah, with me working in a job I hate in the Ministry of Magic," he said dully. "With Percy."

"So… you're not on the team anymore, then…"

"No, Bert kicked me off. Said my behavior was inappropriate and unacceptable or something like that." He laughed bitterly. "At the rate, not even the Chudley Cannons would take me."

"Oh, Oliver…" she said sadly. "Don't say that."

"It's true, though…

Katie bent down and kissed the top of his head. "You sound so hopeless… you're not being yourself."

"I wouldn't blame anyone for feeling as hopeless as I do if they'd just lost the chance to play for Puddlemere United…. and then you know what Bert said? That he was considering going to Durmstrang next, and that he'll be watching Cedric Diggory."

_Ouch, that must've hurt, _Katie thought to herself. "You'll find another team to play for," she said comfortingly. "There are others out there besides Puddlemere." He didn't say anything. Katie bent closer and hugged him tightly.

Suddenly Oliver twisted in his seat and, grabbing her around the waist, pulled her down beside him. Then he was kissing her over and over again, with rough, fervent kisses. He held her to him in a crushing embrace, and his breathing came in uneven, raspy breaths. Katie kissed him back, understanding his need to let out his emotions this way.

Then he pulled away abruptly and for a moment all that could be heard in the room was the sound of their heavy breathing. "Sorry," he said at last. "I didn't mean to get so carried away… did I hurt you?"

"No, but it would help if you moved over a bit," she replied. He shifted his weight off of her, and then rested his head next to hers. Katie turned on her side. She reached up and brushed a strand of hair away from his forehead, and, taking his face in her two hands, kissed him gently.

"At least we have each other, right?" she murmured against his lips.

Oliver made an attempt to smile. "Yeah." Then he sat up slowly, and drew her closer to him so that she was sitting in his lap. There was an intense look in his eyes, and the usually dark chocolate-brown irises were almost black. "Katie, I really should say this more often, but... I love you."

"I love you, too," she replied. "So much that it hurts."

"Well at least I have that to comfort me when I'm stuck in an office in the Ministry," he said, making a weak attempt to joke. Was it just her, or were his eyes shining a little too brightly, as if they held unshed tears?

Katie hugged him close to her. Here was the moment to repay for all he'd done for her. Now it was her turn to support him. She kissed the top of his head, then, pressing her forehead against his, said, "I love you, Oliver, and we have each other. Nothing will ever change that."

* * *

"That was wicked!" The Weasley twins triumphantly gave each other a high five. Angelina, Alicia, and Katie looked up from their books. 

"What did you two do now?" Angelina asked.

"Hexed Montague to the next galaxy," Fred crowed, pumping his fist into the air.

"And that means…?" Alicia said.

"He won't be conscious for a while," George said with satisfaction.

Katie jumped up from her seat, knocking all her books to the floor. There was a look of panic written all over her face. "Wait, did you say you hexed Montague?" she said, her voice on the edge of hysteria.

"I'm sorry, did you not want us to?" Fred said, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

"If it upsets you that we avenged your boyfriend…" George said, leaving his sentence unfinished.

"It's not that; I wouldn't care if you hexed him all the way to Azkaban," Katie said fiercely, her harsh remark causing Angelina and Alicia to raise their eyebrows. "But have you taken into consideration that whatever you did to Montague will be blamed on Oliver and that he'll be punished for what you did?"

"Of course we thought about that," George said carelessly with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Do you think we're professional mischief-makers for nothing?"

"We made sure everyone saw it was us, of course," Fred grinned. "Gred and Forge aren't afraid of a little detention."

Katie sat back down slowly, looking extremely relieved. Angelina patted her back sympathetically. "Katie, I understand that you're concerned about Oliver, and you have a right to be. But you do it to the point that it worries us."

"I know, seriously," Alicia put in, tracing the dark shadows under Katie's eyes with her finger. "Be honest and tell us how much sleep you've been getting this past week."

"Not much," Katie admitted. "But I can't help it; just thinking about how depressed he is upsets me. I mean, he's too depressed to even get back at Montague. I think he's just given up. On everything."

"Mmm…. not good, considering there's the Quidditch Final versus Slytherin coming up…. and N.E.W.T.s for Oliver," Angelina said worriedly.

"I don't know what to do," Katie said miserably. "I just don't feel like I'm being supportive enough."

"Not supportive? You?" Fred scoffed. "If you were my girlfriend I wouldn't need crutches even if _both_ my legs were broken!"

"That's sweet, Fred, but she'd never go out with you in the first place," Angelina said.

"Oh, is that so?" Fred demanded.

"Be serious, you two," Alicia said sternly. "This isn't the time to be fooling around. We need to do something about Oliver…. By the way, where is he?"

"Making up a class he cut," Katie replied, depressed. "He's been cutting a lot lately."

George looked thoughtful, and then suddenly perked up. "Say, Katie, where's that picture of Montague you took a while ago?"

"In my desk. Why?"

"Can we have it?" George asked enthusiastically.

Fred grinned. "I see what you're up to. We're going to blow it up to an enormous size, and post it in front of the Great Hall."

"You read my mind, bro," George laughed.

"Then it will serve two purposes: one, to ridicule Montague the way he deserves, and—"

"Two, it will advertise Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes at the same time! It's pure genius!"

"Pure _lunacy_, you mean," Angelina said sarcastically as the twins dragged Katie up to her room to fetch the picture.

* * *

Two days later, when Montague was conveniently conscious again, his picture appeared magically by the Great Hall overnight. It was a huge success with all the non-Slytherins. When Montague was seen scurrying into the Slytherin dormitory looking tomato-red and furious, and leaving only for classes and mealtimes, Fred and George laughed delightedly and gave each other a high five. 

"There's the fame he always wanted," George laughed.

"He owes us one," Fred agreed, tears of laughter appearing in the corners of his eyes.

Unfortunately, Filch had the picture taken down, but not before everyone in the school had seen it and laughed at it.

But it only got the faintest of smiles out of Oliver.

* * *

"Miss Bell, please stay after class," Professor McGonagall said as soon as Katie stepped into Transfiguration. For a moment, Katie was confused, but it wasn't long before she figured out. 

A few days ago, she'd gone to the headmaster. She couldn't take it anymore; she had to do something about Oliver, and it was time for desperate measures. Luckily, as she had stood in front of the entrance of Dumbledore's office trying to figure out the password to it, the headmaster himself had stepped out...

_"Ah, Miss Bell," he greeted her. "Is there something you would like to speak to me about?"_

_She nodded, and he led her up to his office. She'd never been in there, and she had to make sure she didn't gawk too much at everything in it, especially at the beautiful bird called a phoenix, which Dumbledore introduced to her as Fawkes._

_"Let me guess. Is this matter concerned with Oliver?" Dumbledore asked once they sat down. When she replied yes, he nodded knowingly. "And you're wondering if I could tell you the next time Bert Deverill chanced to come by?"_

_Katie's eyes widened. "Y-yes," she stammered. "How did you…?"_

_Dumbledore winked at her. "Just a lucky guess. Well, Miss Bell, I promise I'll let you know the next time Mr. Deverill stops by at Hogwarts. I'm just as concerned about Oliver as you are."_

After Transfiguration class, Professor McGonagall said almost the exact words Katie had been expecting: "Professor Dumbledore asked to see you." Katie hurried to his office and the door to it opened almost as soon as she got there.

"There you are," Dumbledore said. "Mr. Deverill just stopped by to pick up Oliver's cancellation forms… quickly now, he's already on the way down to the carriage…"

Katie murmured a word of thanks and ran so fast down the hill to the carriages that when she finally saw Bert Deverill, she couldn't stop, and ran into him.

"Whoa!" he said, catching her. "You okay there, little lady?"

Katie looked up into his face. His eyes were twinkling. She could see why Oliver had liked him so much.

"Yes," she said, breathless from her run. "I… well, I wanted to speak to you, about…"

"Yes?" He encouraged her with a friendly smile.

"About Oliver," she finished. His smile faded.

"I'm sorry, there is nothing I can do," he said, his voice suddenly cold and reserved. He brushed past her and put one foot into his carriage.

"Yes there is," she said, grabbing his sleeve. Her boldness startled her, but she continued, "You were the one who made the decision, and you are the one who can change it."

Bert's eyes narrowed. "Who _are_ you?"

"Katie Bell. I'm Oliver's girlfriend," she said without hesitation. "And I'm partly responsible for his actions." When Bert raised his eyebrows skeptically, she continued, "Someone who used to torment me, and tried to hurt me, provoked Oliver and called me a mudblood to his face.

"Oliver almost never loses his temper," Katie went on, "but he's very protective of me. That is also why he didn't explain to you why he fought the other boy; he didn't want to reveal anything about something that happened between that other boy and myself in the past, especially with the headmaster in the room…"

The coldness in Bert's face seemed to melt. He still sighed and shook his head. "I didn't know that, and I'm sorry that it happened, but the decision was made," he said, though half-heartedly. "Good day, Miss Bell."

Katie held on to his sleeve. "You would have done the same, if you were him," she said passionately. "If your wife had been hurt, and humiliated, and if someone insulted her, can you honestly say that you wouldn't have done the same?"

Bert looked annoyed; he tried to shrug her hand off his arm, but Katie didn't let go.

"Oliver told me what happened to you," she said angrily, her words pouring out of her mouth without any hesitation now. When Katie Bell was riled up, there were no barriers to stop her way. "You made a rash decision, too, in the past. And that is why you should give Oliver another chance. Because you got a second chance, too."

Bert's eyes blazed, and he looked furious. Katie released his arm, but she looked back at him defiantly, as if daring him to speak. Then, abruptly, he climbed into the carriage and slammed the door shut. He shouted an order to the driver, and the carriage rolled away.

It was then, when her temper began to cool down, that Katie realized what she had done. Her heart began to pound. _Did I go too far? _she wondered anxiously, putting a hand up to her face. _Oh what have I done?_

_

* * *

_

A/N: dun dun dun (dramatic theme music plays) 

Quidditch Final: Gryffindor vs Slytherin... coming up!


	19. Gryffindor's Comeback

I love love LOVE my reviewers!

**lil-red07**- don't worry, Katie won't go overboard. (crosses fingers) Thanks for reviewing. :)  
**Gemm'n290**- you're my 200th reviewer! Have a butterbeer! And where's my deelicious sprinkle and frosted sugar cookies? YUM...  
**Padfoot's Sidekick**- oh dear, not the pernicious penguins. ANYTHING but the pernicious penguins!... (scratches head) er...what _are_ the pernicious penguins?... lol. well I'm glad you didn't explode. Email me in case of an emergency like that. ;)  
**NapoloeonRocksMyTots**- or should I say, GredAndForge4President? Geez, no matter what you change your penname to, I always love it! I should probably go back and re-dedicate your chapter (what was it? the one w/ the sleeping bags in the Great Hall, right?) to your new penname, cuz it still says "This chapter is for IHopeForAnarchy." But then again, you'll probably end up changing your penname _again, _right> Nothing against change, though; change is always good! (oh, and uh, I think pushing Vivian off a cliff would be kind of unrealistic, even in the world of HP, don't you think? good suggestion, though; I wouldn't mind doing it!)  
**mello80**- aw thanks... and don't be scared; too many people are scared of me at the moment... lol just kidding. hint hint- yes I probably will be going with the books... maybe. :)  
**Schnebz**- swimming & the cinema, eh? how were both?... am I being nosy? well I'm a naturally nosy person... thanks for reviewing!  
**Bananaprincess-93**- the hickey waves farewell to you and wipes away a tear with a tiny hickey handkerchief... aw I'm sorry, it just died. How tragic. lol! And yes, the idea of Penelope sex dreams frightens me too... I wonder how I came up with it? Hmm... because Percy is all like "I'm so great and clean and blah blah" but MAYBE he secretly has nasty perverted thoughts. Hmm... so anyway, are you going to update Gred and Forge's Manual for Life anytime soon? I miss it.  
**Girl with the Evil Computer**- hmm well if you put me on author alert, you could get an email everytime I update, which is kind of pointless anyhow because this story is almost over. (tear...) Well thanks for the gold star; I don't mind if it's small. :) And yes, I sympathize with you about the spacing issue; it happens to me too. Hope you like this chapter!  
**Star of the North**- lol I can also see Percy as a secret diary-keeping person; it seems kinda Percy-ish, don't you think? Thanks for reviewing... and good luck with those man-eating dogs from the haunted ghost village near your school. (I know you didn't say that but I like to spice things up a bit. My brother and sister are always complaining about how I exaggerate too much... but can you blame me? (smiles innocently))

_Can you believe I'm on Chapter 19 already? My, how time flies… _

_And yes, I'm borrowing from the third HP book again in this chapter, and even take a few quotes directly from the book, so thanks, Jo Rowling._

**_Chapter 19_**

"Katie, you okay?"

Katie gave Alicia a weak smile. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said, although she didn't feel fine at all. Her stomach was still churning with the dreadful thought that she might have made things horribly worse for Oliver by lashing out at Bert Deverill that way… What had she been thinking? He was the bloody _manager_ of _Puddlemere United_, for crying out loud! Did she honestly think he would ever listen to a mere schoolgirl like her?

Even Oliver, who was still sunk in his depression, noticed how suddenly quiet she was. "Is there anything you want to tell me?" he asked, reaching forward and tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

_Yes!_ _I have an awful confession to make! _she thought, but out loud she said to him, "No, nothing."

He nodded, though he still looked skeptical, and his eyes trailed down to his books. At this point, all the seventh years had begun their intense studying for N.E.W.T.s.

After a careful moment of observing him to make sure he didn't look back at her and see how troubled she looked, Katie went back to her own work. She had just scribbled, "This year, the angle between Saturn and Io, one of Jupiter's moons, indicates that…" onto her parchment, and was tapping her quill impatiently against her desk trying to invent a prediction, when Oliver suddenly slammed his book shut with a loud BANG, making Katie jump in her seat.

"This is ridiculous," he said in frustration. Katie, thinking he was talking about studying, looked down at his thick textbook and nodded in agreement. But when he said, "I'm not going to let a stupid rejection ruin my life," she realized that he wasn't talking about his studies.

"Oliver, were you even reading the book at all right now?" she asked.

"No, I was too busy thinking about Bert and Puddlemere, as I have been doing for the past few weeks, and I've had it."

"What do you mean?"

Oliver sighed, and spoke in a lower tone, "I'm just going to forget about Puddlemere, and focus on the present. I can't let the rejection ruin my life, and I've got my future to think of… and then what you told me before, long ago, about how I had to think about the team and not myself… do you remember? Well what you said suddenly entered my mind and I thought, 'I should give the team my all, even if just for the sake of supporting them, and I can't let them down.'"

Katie's jaw dropped, and she stared at him in disbelief. Was she dreaming or was Oliver finally pulling out of his depression…? Finally getting her act together, she smiled happily and kissed him. "Could it be? Could Oliver Wood actually be coming back…?" she wondered aloud.

Oliver laughed for what seemed to Katie like the first time in forever. "Yes, and I actually have Malfoy to thank partially for that."

"Malfoy?"

"I overheard him saying something to Goyle, that we were going to lose badly to their house in the last match," he explained. "And then it hit me— that even though I had thought my life was over because some stupid team kicked me off it, life was still going on around me, and that to just stop and give up in the middle of it was stupid. And the thought that beating Slytherin before I leave Hogwarts forever would be a slap in the face to Montague put me in a better mood.

"And," he continued, "it also helped that Fred and George knocked some sense into me… literally. They attacked me in my room yesterday and banged my pillows over my head and told me to stop moping all the time like Moaning Myrtle. Then they each pulled at a corner of my mouth and made it stretch into a smile that could reach across the English Channel. Of course, _that_ got them a beating from me."

Katie laughed. The familiar grin on his face was a relief to see. "Well, I'm glad you're back, even though it means the Weasleys' arses are sore from that beating."

"They got what they deserved," he grinned. "Now, back on track; I've been out of it for way too long… I think we should start having more practices. The Quidditch Final is coming up sooner than you think, you know, and two-hour practices won't suffice anymore. We'll have to double the amount; four hours at _least_. And we shouldn't rely on Harry's Firebolt to do all the work, so we'll have an intense flying practice at least once a week. Oh, and Katie— you, Angelina, and Alicia should really try the Hawkshead Attacking Formation; the Kestrels pulled it off brilliantly last year and I think we should use it in this last match. And I really want Harry to work on his Wronski Feint; his is very good but there's always room for improvement. Also, I heard from the other Houses that Slytherin's putting up a rather nasty front this year, so we have to work on our defensive moves…"

"Welcome back, Oliver," Katie said, laughing at his rapidly-returning enthusiasm.

* * *

"Slytherin's up by two hundred points. So you must catch it _only_ if we're _more than_ fifty points up. Only if we're more than fifty points up, Harry, or we win the match but lose the Cup. You've got that, haven't you? You must only catch the Snitch if we're—" 

"I _know_, Oliver!" Harry yelled.

"Just making sure," Oliver said. Katie laughed.

"You're cracking up," she told him. Turning to Harry, she said, "I'm sorry he's being such a bully."

Harry laughed. "Well at least he's not as bad as the Slytherins. One of them almost gave me a concussion today. I was eating dinner and suddenly a huge platter of ham was flying toward me, and—"

"Are you okay?" Oliver demanded. "None of them hurt you, right? Your catching arm's okay? What about your head? Feeling dizzy? Do you want to go to Madam Pomfrey?"

"I'm _fine_," Harry muttered.

"Oh would you just leave him alone?" Katie laughed, hitting Oliver lightly on the arm.

"I have a right to be worried," Oliver replied. "Our House and Slytherin are out to kill each other."

He was right. There were many fights in the corridors, and none of the team members were allowed to go anywhere alone, out of fear that a bloodthirsty Slytherin would try to decapitate them. Poor Harry was never able to get to class on time because of his huge crowd of "bodyguards."

It was almost a relief when the night before the Quidditch Final finally arrived, because they were all so sick of the precautions they had to take. No work was done in the common room that night; everyone was too busy chatting and getting worked up about the upcoming match. Harry was already hyperventilating, while Fred and George were being as mischievous and merry as ever.

Taking a break from the Weasleys' tear-jerking jokes, Katie went over to where Oliver sat in a corner, prodding little figures across a model of a Quidditch field and muttering to himself.

"Would you stop worrying so much already and just relax?" she laughed as she sat beside him.

"This is my last game," he replied. "I _can't_ relax."

"Well, whether we win or lose, this year has been great," she said, a bit wistfully. "I think the team was brilliant this year."

"It was," he said softly, looking down at the figures on the miniature Quidditch field. "I'm going to miss it a lot."

"I'm going to miss _you_." Katie leaned her head against his shoulder and sighed. He took one of her hands in his, and they sat together like that quietly until it was time for Oliver to order the team to bed.

* * *

"Go, go, Gryffindor!" 

"Slytherin for the Cup!"

It was the day of the match. Hundreds of red banners waved from the Gryffindor stands, and hundreds of green flags flapped in the wind on the Slytherin side.

"And here are the Gryffindors!" Lee shouted into his megaphone. "Potter, Bell, Johnson, Spinnet, Weasley, Weasley, and Wood!"

Katie didn't hear what he said afterwards; she was too busy trying to fight down the butterflies in her stomach. This match was going to be intense, and she knew it already. The tension between the opposing teams was shown through their Captains; Marcus Flint and Oliver looked like they were trying to break the other's fingers as they shook hands.

"Mount your brooms!" Madam Hooch shouted. "Three…two…one…"

The whistle blew shrilly and the dirtiest game Katie had ever played in began. Alicia took the Quaffle first, which was stolen by Warrington but taken back by Angelina, who scored the first goal of the match. Then Marcus Flint smashed into her and, in revenge, Fred chucked his club at the back of Flint's head.

It was apparent that the Slytherins were determined to do anything to win, even if it resorted to foulplay and cheating. Once, when Katie had taken possession of the Quaffle, Montague grabbed her head. She pulled away and cartwheeled in the air.

"Sorry, thought your head was the Quaffle," Montague sneered when she was upright.

"Well why don't you open those squinchy eyes of yours and pay more attention?" she snapped. She got her revenge when she scored a penalty shot.

Thirty-zero.

Oliver was playing brilliantly, and Katie didn't think that just because she was going out with him. He only let the Quaffle slip past him once, but other than that, he'd blocked all the other goals. He had a look of grim satisfaction on his face, especially when he successfully blocked all of Montague's attempts to score.

Then, after Katie scored another goal, and Fred and George momentarily moved to protect her from revenge, Bole and Derrick smack both Bludgers at Oliver. The fierce black balls slammed into his stomach.

"Oliver!" Katie cried, worried sick, but he recovered and took his post in front of the hoops once more.

_God, if the game kept going on like this, we'll all get concussions sooner or later and die_, Katie thought grimly. But she kept playing, and put her all into the game. Suddenly, a huge cheer erupted from the Gryffindor stands, and she skidded to a stop.

Harry was flying over the crowd, holding his hand up high in the air, and the huge grin on his face stretched from ear to ear.

"Ohmigosh, ohmigosh, ohmigosh…" Katie whispered. She couldn't believe it. Did they actually...?

Alicia's shout confirmed it: "We won, we won!" she shrieked, grabbing Katie and giving her a big hug. Angelina dashed toward them and soon, all of them were laughing and shrieking. Katie's heart soared and it wasn't long before her cheeks began to hurt from smiling and laughing so much. Then the three flew down to the ground, where they were wrapped in crushing embraces from Harry, Fred, George, and Oliver, who unashamedly had tears in his eyes.

"We won, Katie! We did it!" Oliver said hoarsely, kissing her. "Quickly, now…" He grabbed her hand and led her to the stands, where Dumbledore was waiting with the Cup. The headmaster smiled, and gave it to Oliver, who kissed it sobbingly and passed it to Harry, who looked like he'd just been given the moon.

Gryffindor had won the Cup for the first time in seven years. It felt good to make a comeback.

* * *

After the match, Katie snuck into the boys' locker room for the second time that year. With a mischievous smile on her face, she tiptoed noiselessly across the floor. Oliver was just about to take off his shirt when she pounced on him and yelled "Boo!" 

Oliver jumped. "Bloody hell!" he shouted. "Can't a guy take a shower peacefully around here?"

"Not when his girlfriend's around," she said, smiling wickedly.

"Well aren't you pleased with yourself," he said dryly as he reached behind her to turn on the tap.

"And I'd be more pleased if I came in later, when more of you was uncovered," she grinned.

Oliver raised an eyebrow. "You're very naughty, Miss Bell. I'm not sure how to handle you."

"Oh yes you do."

Oliver paused. Then he laughed, and pointed a finger at the door. "Out!" he commanded. "I'll be out in a moment."

Katie turned to leave, still laughing, when he suddenly grabbed her from behind. He yanked the shower curtain open and pulled her in with him, pinning her against the wall so she couldn't escape.

"Oliver, you prat!" Katie shrieked when the icy water hit her. "Let me out!"

"You were the one who decided to come in here in the first place," he said, grinning. He looked very pleased with himself.

"My robes are getting soaked!"

"So take them off."

Katie gave an exaggerated gasp. "Why, Mr. Wood, you're so naughty I'm not sure how to handle you."

"Oh yes you do," he said wickedly, leaning closer to kiss her. She turned her head to the side so his mouth missed hers.

"Can you at least make the water warmer first?" she said, beginning to shiver.

"No," he said obstinately.

"I'm freezing my arse off," she complained.

"Well you won't be for long." Then Oliver pulled her closer to him and kissed her. Katie closed her eyes and clung to him, running her fingers through his soaking hair. And, like he'd said, she forgot about the icy water that streamed down their bodies, making their clothing cling to their skin as tightly as they held each other.

_(A/N: naughtiness! It's in moments like these that I get fiercely jealous of an imaginary character named Katie Bell…)_

* * *

"Where were _you_, and _what_ are you wearing?" 

Katie looked down at her shirt and laughed. "It's Oliver's," she explained to Angelina, who had asked the question.

"We kind of had an accident in the shower," Oliver said, "and Katie's robes got soaked…"

"And I didn't have anything to wear on top so I had to borrow one of his shirts and then I grabbed a pair of shorts from my locker…"

Angelina raised an eyebrow. "I see… well, have a butterbeer." She threw a bottle each to Katie and Oliver.

"Let's get this party started!" Fred yelled, throwing red and gold confetti around the room.

"Sparklers, anyone?" George shouted, passing out red and gold sparklers out to anyone who would take them.

"Party hats?" Lee Jordan gave out red and gold hats.

"Look like they went all out," Alicia commented, watching the three boys.

It wasn't long before the party was in full swing. Professor McGonagall came in to personally congratulate each team member, and even grudgingly allowed a very delighted George to put a party hat on her head, which she kept on for all of two seconds. Then she took off the hat, and, standing by the portrait hole, said, "I'm allowing you to stay up as late as you wish tonight, but only because this is a very special occasion. I won't be coming in to check on you again, so I trust you will all behave…?" She looked pointedly at Fred and George, who grinned and waved their party hats at her. The corners of her lips twitched, as if a smile was about to appear on her face, but then she cleared her throat. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must go speak to Professor Snape...", which all the students mentally translated into, "Now if you'll excuse me, I must go gloat about Gryffindor's win and rub it in to Severus Snape."

As the night grew late, the lights in the castle turned off one by one as everyone eventually went to bed, but Gryffindor Tower remained brightly lit all night long, and noises of jubilant celebration drifted out the windows onto the grounds until the first rays of dawn appeared.

* * *

A/N: well, I hoped you liked that! 

Unfortunately, I realized that I made a mistake. I said before that Katie had to take the O.W.L.s this year, which doesn't make sense at all. Those tests are taken by fifth years, and I had thought before that she was a fifth year, but then I realized that Angelina, Alicia, and the Weasley twins are _also_ fifth years in this story. And since Katie's supposed to be a year _younger_ than them… well, you get the picture. So I guess she's a fourth year now…? I'm terribly sorry if I confused any of you; I'm going back and changing all the mistakes in the earlier chapters.

But I'm not wrong about her age (whew!). According to the HP Lexicon, it's very possible that she _is _15 years old: "Whether or not the school has a cut-off date, it is obvious that the actual age difference can vary ±1 year relative to the school year difference." Also, I think I read somewhere that she's 15 in the 3rd HP book, which means she must've entered her first year when she was 12, which is entirely possible. So there's still a two-year difference between her and Oliver. To clear things up again for you poor readers, Katie is in her fourth year and she's 15. Capeesh?

Very sorry for such a tragic mistake! "Bad Chenelle, bad!" (slaps myself) Hey, don't I remind you of Dobby?

…geez I'm so melodramatic…


	20. Second Chances

Again, a big thank-you to my lovely reviewers:

**GredAndForge4President**- yes I'm afraid I left the cliff out but there _is_ some form of revenge, as in all good stories :) . And you're right about P.U. (lol I just realized how funny the initials sound), cuz it'll be mentioned again. And about the shower scene... I'm sorry but Oliver is _my_ shower buddy!  
**Maffy Jiblo**- actually, it's capeesh. Maybe you were thinking of its Italian origin, _capisce, _but in English it's written capeesh. Check out Dictionary dot com (for some reason ff doesn't let me type in website names, so even though it's stupid I have to type out "dot com") Thanks so much for all your compliments; they really made my day.  
**Girl with the Evil Computer**- oh... well then I guess the author alert's not going to work anyway! lol. And I'm so relieved you don't mind my stupid little mistake. oh and btw i LOVE robin hood: men in tights, too! Isn't Cary Ewles just the best? omg have you ever seen the Princess Bride? Talk about a _great _movie!  
**Padfoot's Sidekick**- lol yes I know what "pernicious" means but the idea of "pernicious _penguins_" was what intrigued me. Thanks for going through all the trouble to find the definition for me, though!  
**Schnebz-** hurray for Spongebob!...and how was Constantine? (scratches head) I'm a little behind in all the movie news :) Bert, Vivian and Montague will be back, of course... in this chapter, in fact!  
**banana-princess93**- i'm glad you don't mind my stilly little mistake. whew! Can't wait til you next update that story of yours!  
**mello80**- still not signin in, eh? lol. well i'm glad you do worthwhile things in school like fanfiction instead of doing stupid things lilke...er... schoolwork. and yes, let's all dream of an irish and/or scottish boyfriend... (drool)  
**Doodleflip**- thanks so much!  
**Chrissy**- thank you!  
**Star of the North**- hmm, actually there's a bit of controversy about the whole age issue. J.K. Rowling supposedly said Hermione's birthday was September 19, 1980, making her the youngest of the trio, and 10 years old as a first year... but then again, on her website she says Hermione was nearly 12 when she entered Hogwarts... but then again the WB timeline is supposedly wrong when it says her birthday is in 1979... but then again... AHH! To tell the truth, I have no idea about Hermione's age but Jo Rowling definitely said you only have to be _at least_ eleven, and so first years range from 11-12 years old... Am I making sense? Oh gosh all this math stuff is giving me a headache. I hope you can figure all this out on your own, because my brain's frazzled right now.

_I'm not sure if all of you know about this already, but check out the Harry Potter Lexicon. It's the first link that comes up when you type "Harry Potter Lexicon" into Google. It's a great website and you can find **anything** you need for your HP stories on it. If you haven't already, check it out!_

_This chapter's essentially the last official chapter of the story, as it discusses Oliver's last few days at Hogwarts. The next chappie will be brief, and will only be a finally "wrapping up" chapter. Fortunately, this chapter is deliciously long; in fact, probably the longest one in the whole story. So enjoy!_

**_Chapter 20_**

_It looks like the partying in Gryffindor tower is going to last all week. Fred and George have even gone as far as wearing their outrageous red-and-gold hats around school, blowing up their party blowers in random Slytherins' faces and popping crackers that let out a huge lion's ROAR in the middle of the corridors. Katie's gotten fond of saying that they may have hit puberty, but they'll never stop acting like four-year-olds. _

_In fact, the two prats were just going to pop one of those annoying crackers in my face when I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn around. _

_"Hello, Oliver." It's Dumbledore. He has a twinkle in his eyes as he catches Fred and George stuffing the crackers back into their pockets. _

_"Hello, Professor," they say cheerfully. _

_"Hello, Fred, George," he says, chuckling. "Would you mind handing over whatever happens to be in your pockets?" Fred and George look at each other and shrug. Each digs into his pockets, pulls out several blowers and crackers, and puts them in Dumbledore's outstretched hand. _

_The headmaster looks carefully at a cracker, and, before we know what he's doing, he pulls it apart. A huge ROAR echoes through the corridor. Dumbledore chuckles, and the twins grin. "I've been wanting to get my hands on one of these ever since Argus Filch complained to me about them. May I?" He indicates that he wants to keep a couple._

_"Sure, Professor," Fred and George say, with their trademark grins on their faces. _

_Dumbledore looks over his spectacles at them and smiles. Then he looks at me and says, "There's someone in my office who wants to see you." _

_I ignore the suspicious glances that are sent my way by Fred and George, and follow Dumbledore to his office. I don't think it's Bert, because the other times, Professor McGonagall came to get me. Whoever wants to see me now must be someone else. _

_But it's not. Bert gets up from his chair as soon as I enter the room, and he outstretches his hand toward me. I shake it, confused. _

_"You must be wondering about my suddenly welcoming reception of you," he says, getting straight to the point. "All I want to say is that I apologize for my rash decision." He must have noticed the blank look on my face, because he tells me to sit down. _

_"I'm sorry, would you say that again?" I say, rather dazed. _

_Bert laughs. "Why don't I explain it fully this time? Someone came up to me a week or so ago, asking me to reconsider my decision about dismissing you from the team. She told me that I should you give you another chance, because I got a second chance in the past. When I ignored her, she insisted that you were only trying to defend your girlfriend, and could I honestly say that I wouldn't have done the same for my wife?" _

_I look at him in astonishment. "Yes," he continues, "she must have found out about your girlfriend, and how she was insulted. At first, I was furious, and I drove off without saying a word. But when I got home, where my wife was waiting for me, I realized that I really would have done the same if I were you. The stranger's words stuck in my head and I couldn't forget them. Then my guilty conscience started eating away at me, not only because a look at your records proves that you don't normally engage in violent behavior, but also because the stranger was right—you deserved a second chance. As everyone does. _

_"I apologize for what I did, Wood. Will you reconsider being reserve Keeper for Puddlemere United?" _

_"I… yes, of course," I stammer. "Apology accepted." Who could the mysterious person have been?... Katie? No, it couldn't be, because she didn't say anything and she always tells me everything. And Bert said the mystery person had "found out" about Katie, which means it can't be her… _

_"Good," he says, smiling as genially as he did when I first met him. "And to tell the truth… all those forms you signed before? I kept them, every single one. Because even though I was angry, there was a part of me that wanted you back on the team. I even came back to see the Quidditch Final, you know. You were brilliant. Let only one goal slip past you, eh?" _

_"Yeah. Thanks." _

_Bert smiles again. "I won't keep you here anymore. It's great to have you back, Wood." He extends his hand toward me again and we shake hands once more. _

_I walk to the door, still feeling dazed, when he says, "Oh, and Oliver…" I turn around. He smiles and winks. "Say hello to your girlfriend for me. Tell her she's got spunk." __

* * *

_

As soon as Katie stepped out of Charms, she felt someone grab her. It was Oliver; he must have been waiting for her. 

"I need to talk to you," he said, taking her by the hand and pulling her off to the side.

"Oliver, what's wrong?" Katie said, her eyes anxiously searching his face. He was looking extremely flushed and agitated.

"Tell me, Kates, and be honest—did you ever talk to Bert Deverill?"

"Oh God, Oliver, I'm sorry!" she gasped. "I didn't mean to… I only had the best intentions; please believe me. I'm sorry if I got you into even more trouble—"

Oliver put his hand over her mouth as words tumbled out of it. "Katie, Katie!" he laughed. "What are you apologizing for?"

Oh good Lord. He was laughing. Why was he laughing?

"I didn't… I didn't do anything… bad?" she stammered.

"You got me back on the team!" he exclaimed. Then suddenly she was in his arms and he was spinning her around and around.

"What… what are you talking about?" she murmured dizzily when he put her back on her feet.

"I'm back on the team!" he exclaimed. "Bert said someone went up to him and knocked some sense into his head about me, but he didn't tell me then who it was. He said he was sorry and that he wanted me back as reserve Keeper. Then while I was leaving he said, "Say hello to your girlfriend for me. Tell her she's got spunk." Katie, you're the best!"

"Well, considering you got kicked off on my account in the first place, I didn't do much..."

"Nonsense," he said, grinning down at her.

"Hey what's all this sudden love-dovey moment for?" a voice said from behind them. It was Alicia, Angelina, Fred, and George, who had just came out of the Charms room.

Oliver gave them an abridged version of the story. "So that's how Katie got me back on the team."

"Aw isn't she the sweetest?" Fred grinned.

"I say we fit so well together we should've been born attached at the hips," Oliver said, looking down fondly at Katie.

"Now that would make using the toilet rather difficult…" she said, pretending to look thoughtful. Oliver rolled his eyes as the others laughed. "And sleeping," she said, a wicked smile appearing on her lips. "Although few girls would mind having Oliver Wood attached to them in a bed…"

"You little…!" Oliver made a grab for Katie but she squealed and evaded him. Oliver chased her down the hall.

"They're like little kids," George said, shaking his head in mock disgust.

"Ha! _You're_ talking," Alicia said sarcastically.

"Hey!" George shouted, and then he was chasing Alicia down the hall.

Fred and Angelina looked at each other and shrugged. Then Fred let out a little growl, Angelina shrieked, and he was chasing her down the hall.

* * *

"The House points were tallied up, and…" 

Katie couldn't believe it was already the Closing Ceremony, where all the points were counted and the House Cup was rewarded to the House with the most points. The time had flown by; it even seemed like she took her final exams and Oliver, the N.E.W.T.s, just yesterday. Both had done very well on their exams.

"…partly due to their spectacular performance in Quidditch… Gryffindor wins the House Cup!" Dumbledore's arm swept toward the Gryffindor table, which erupted into cheers. The red banner of Gryffindor unfolded from the ceiling and the symbol of the golden lion was everywhere around the Great Hall.

Oliver hugged Katie. "Is this a great way to end my last year or what?" he grinned.

"It is," she agreed.

"Oy, is Ron okay?" Alicia asked the twins, who were wolfing down their treacle tart.

"Uh…" They looked at each other.

"Oh!" George said at last. "His leg. Right…"

"He's fine," Fred said confidently. "He only got dragged around by a werewolf or something during the middle of the night."

"_What?_" the others shouted.

"Bloody hell, can you be any louder?" Fred grumbled, covering his ears.

"Some incident with Professor Lupin," George explained. "Turns out he's a werewolf or something." Then both went back to their dessert.

Angelina rolled her eyes. "We're not going to get any further with them," she said with disgust. "It'll just take quicker to ask Ron himself. Or Harry and Hermione, who were probably involved; they're always doing crazy things together."

Suddenly, there was a commotion at the Ravenclaw table. Katie looked over and saw Vivian, who was screaming and clutching at her forehead,which was beginning to break out into spots. The usually perfect skin was marred by ugly red pimples, which spread across her forehead. Everyone peered closer to look with morbid fascination, and then they leaned back in their chairs and laughed when they saw what the abnormal pimples were spelling out.

GUILTY.

Suddenly, she began turning blue and clutched at her throat. The pressure in her head grew so much that she looked like she was going to explode, and then… the loudest and longest belch, even better than the Weasleys' best, resounded throughout the hallway.

"Oh my God," she gasped at last when she'd caught her breath. Her friends and even her new boyfriend, Greg, were inching away from her. She burst into tears and ran out of the hall hysterically crying.

"Nice!" the Weasleys triumphantly gave each other a high five. Oliver looked only mildly guilty. Katie, Alicia, and Angelina looked at the three of them suspiciously.

"Oliver, I trust you weren't involved in the horrible, horrible tragedy that happened to poor, poor, sweet Vivian?" Katie said in an exaggeratedly sweet voice.

"Of course not," he said, equally exaggeratedly sweet. "I'm as innocent as Fred and George are."

The six of them looked at each other blankly for a moment. Then they began to laugh,as hard as when Fred and George had thought Oliver was gay. Angelina was cracking up so much that her head almost fell forward into her goblet and Fred had to grab her by the hair to stop her from drowning in her pumpkin juice.

"Aw, I almost feel bad for her," Katie said, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes.

"No you don't," Oliver accused her, and then when Katie couldn't deny it, they started laughing all over again.

* * *

Because it was the last night before school ended for the year, most of the Gryffindors stayed awake and hung out in the common room. Due to the lack of space, Fred and George had dragged a whole bunch of people to their room for wizard chess and Exploding Snap competitions. They bet on anything—chocolate frogs, wizard cards, Knuts and Sickles (no one took the risk of betting Galleons), and whatever else they had at hand. 

Katie and Oliver stayed behind in the common room. Katie was snuggled against Oliver's side, and they sat quietly in front of the fireplace, which was unlit that warm summer night. Oliver was absently playing with the ends of Katie's hair.

"I wish we could go to the Astronomy Tower," Katie murmured. "But _that_ was ruined forever because of that night at the beginning of the year, thanks to Montague."

"Who needs the Astronomy Tower when we have the whole sky?" Oliver asked.

Katie laughed. "You're a hopeless romantic, Oliver."

"I know," he grinned.

"So you really want to go for one last ride?" she asked, standing up.

"Definitely."

"Wait, I have to get something." Katie ran up to her dormitory and grabbed something from her desk. It was a scrapbook that she'd been working on for week now, which she'd been planning to give Oliver as a sort of last-day-of-Hogwarts present. She lovingly stroked the cover, which was covered with pictures of her and Oliver. Then she quickly stuffed it in her robe and went down the stairs to the common room. Oliver was waiting for her by the portrait hole. When she reached him, he took her hand and they walked to the Quidditch field together.

Once they had mounted their brooms and had flown once or twice around the Quidditch field, Katie reached over and pulled on Oliver's broom handle to stop it.

"I have something for you," she said, giving him the scrapbook. His eyes widened and he took out his wand, saying "_Lumos_" to see better.

"Katie, this is great!" he said, smiling as he looked through the pages that contained all their memories of his seventh year, when they had become a couple. There was a picture of the two of them on a broom, with him sitting behind with his arms around her… a picture taken in Hogsmeade… a picture taken after the Quidditch final… and even a picture of them snogging, taken by the mischievous Angelina when they weren't looking. In addition to the pictures, Katie had decorated the margins with cartoons and caricatures that she'd drawn herself. Oliver seemed to particularly like her caricature of Percy with 'an inflated head,' as the twins had said, and the cartoon Percy was pompously saying, "Violence is not the answer!"

"Thanks so much, Kates," Oliver said, tucking the book into his robes. "I love it. Now I have something for you." He took a little box out of his pocket and took her wrist in his hand. She still wore the charm bracelet he'd given her for Christmas. She never took it off.

"This," he said, "is for our win against Ravenclaw." He pulled out a tiny silver charm of a lion's head and hooked it onto the bracelet. "This is for our win against Slytherin." He attached a fancy ruby-and-gold cursive G (for Gryffindor) onto the bracelet. "This is for our last year together at Hogwarts." A dainty little heart charm, with an engraving of their initials intertwined in the middle. With each charm he gave her, Katie started to choke up and tears threatened to slip from her eyes.

"And this…" He took out a beautiful white-gold locket. "… is for us." He undid the clasp and showed it to her; there was a tiny picture of each on either side. What made Katie smile was that Oliver's picture kept running over to Katie's side to be with her picture.

Oliver laughed. "I tried to make it stop doing that," he explained, "but my picture must really want to be with yours as much as I want to be with you all the time… Here, lift your hair up for a sec." When she did so, he fastened the locket around her neck.

"Thanks," Katie said, choking up. "I love it… however did you afford it?"

"Money from summer jobs… and a little help from my parents." Oliver grinned.

"Oh, Oliver!" Katie flung her arms around his neck and pulled him close. She couldn't stop the tears this time.

"Whoa!" He lost his balance and nearly fell off his broom. "Perhaps it would be wiser to fly back to the ground?"

They flew down together, landing on the field, and Oliver tossed the brooms to the side.

"Wanna race?" he said, trying to distract her from crying. He started running across the grounds before she could say a word. Katie laughed despite herself, and ran after him. He stopped to let her catch up but she took advantage of that and ran past him.

"Hey!" he shouted, racing after her in hot pursuit.

"Whoever reaches the building last is a rotten Slytherin!" she yelled over her shoulder. But at the top of a small hillock, she stopped, panting and laughing, thinking he would stop beside her. Instead, he purposely ran into her and then both were tumbling down the hill in a tangle of black robes.

They rolled to the bottom, where Oliver ended up on top of Katie, who was shrieking with laughter, her eyes sparkling and her tears forgotten. Her hair had fallen out of its ponytail, her scrunchie lost somewhere in the green grass, and the blond waves framed her pretty face in such an enchanting way that Oliver couldn't resist kissing her.

"You have grass in your hair," she giggled.

"You think you don't?"

"At least I don't have a twig stuck in the back of it."

Oliver reached up and pulled the twig out of his hair. He lightly tapped Katie's nose with the end of it. "Why are you suddenly so giggly, hmm?"

Katie laughed outright. "'Cause I suddenly remembered what you and the twins did to Vivian at dinner today."

Oliver grinned. "It was their fault; they came up with it first. I was only the brains behind the whole experiment because of my superior seventh-year Potions skills."

"Don't be such a prick. You sound like Percy," she scolded. "So are you going to do anything to Montague?"

"Maybe," he said, with a look of feigned innocence on his face. He shifted his weight off of Katie and lay on his side, pulling her closer to him. He kissed the top of her head. "Love you," he murmured into her hair.

"Love you too."

They lay in the grass like that, looking up at the stars in the summer night sky, with Katie lying in Oliver's arms. That is, until she laughed again and said, "You think we can go inside now? I think I feel a bug crawling into my shirt."

* * *

"Captain, Operation Let's-Get-Montague-Back-Because-He's-A-Filthy-Slytherin-And-Only-Lives-To-Suffer-Revenge is ready to take place." 

"Whenever you're ready, sir."

Oliver rolled his eyes at the twins, who had identical Cheshire Cat grins on their faces. "Pray tell, who came up with the name of this 'operation'?"

"He did," each said immediately, pointing to the other twin.

"_Right_," Oliver muttered. "Okay, let's do it now."

"I'm scared to know what they've got planned," Alicia whispered to Angelina and Katie.

Fred peered out the door of the compartment. "Ow," he muttered when the jolting movement of the train threw him into the door frame. George started laughing at his brother until another bump sent him flying to the other side of the compartment.

"Okay, the witch with the food trolley is coming this way," Fred said. "Ready?"

The witch stopped at their compartment. "Would you like something to eat, dears?" she asked kindly. The girls made their purchases without knowing that they were unconsciously participating in the conspiracy by distracting the witch. While the witch's back was turned toward them, the twins grinned and slyly slipped something into a Cauldron Cake.

When the witch turned to them, Fred picked up the Cauldron Cake and a few chocolate frogs and said, "Can we buy these for a friend? We want to surprise him, because it's his last year at Hogwarts, and we thought he'd appreciate these."

"Of course," the witch said brightly. She winked. "Would you like me to deliver them myself to make it even more secret?"

The twins grinned. She was making everything so easy. "Thanks a bunch, ma'am," George said politely. "Montague is sitting in the compartment across the aisle and eight doors to the right."

"Why did you buy things for that prat?" Alicia demanded, putting her hands on her hips. She hadn't noticed what they'd done to the Cauldron Cake.

"You'll see," Oliver said mischievously as he peered out the compartment. "Okay in a few minutes now…" When he made a sign to the twins, they followed him into the aisle. Curiosity got the better of the girls, and they followed the guys to Montague's compartment.

Except Montague wasn't there. Instead, there was a huge, inflated, balloon-like canary that Montague's friends were staring at in astonishment.

Oliver flung the door open. "Well what do you know," he said, raising an eyebrow. "Montague's turned into a canary."

"Oh my God, lemme see!" Fred and George shouted, faking surprise and wonder. "Wow…" they said, gasping exaggeratedly.

Montague's face scrunched up into a scowl, but his face was so bloated that he couldn't speak. George went up to him, and, laughing delightedly, poked Montague, who floated over to the window.

"Um… why is he _floating?_" Katie asked in puzzlement.

Fred scoffed. "It's Montague. He always does weird things no one can explain."

Angelina started cracking up, and it wasn't long before the whole group in the doorway was laughing.

"Get out of here," Marcus Flint growled, beginning to push them out.

"Be grateful we didn't tie you to the back of the train on a long string, like we originally planned," Oliver spat at Montague before they left.

"Wasn't that GREAT?" Fred asked once they'd returned to their own compartment. He rolled on the floor of the compartment, laughing so hard he had to clutch his sides.

"How did you do it?" Alicia asked, demanding an explanation.

"Fred and I are making these things called Canary Creams," George said, grinning. "We're not selling them yet, but Oliver suggested that we just take the key ingredients in them and put them in the Cauldron Cake. Except we… er… _accidentally_ forgot to test everything beforehand. You're not exactly supposed to bloat and float."

"Bloat and float," Katie repeated, laughing. "So that's what you planned, you sneaky little thing," she said to Oliver, who only grinned.

A little while later, everyone had settled down, now that the revenge prank was over. Now they just talked and joked around, and when Lee joined them, a fierce game of Exploding Snap was underway.

Katie looked around the compartment, trying to memorize everything as it was. Because even as she sat with Oliver's arms around her, talking and laughing with everyone else, a thought deep in her mind refused to stop nagging her— that this was the last time it would be like this: all of them talking and laughing and reminiscing about the past… Fred, George, Lee, Angelina, Alicia, Oliver, and herself. It would never be this way again.

* * *

A/N: Aw, that kind of ended on a sad note… But didn't I told you guys to trust me about the whole Puddlemere United thing? (smiles innocently) 

Again, sorry for all the sickeningly sweet fluff. But I had a lot of fun writing it, so swallow it without choking on it too much!

One more chapter left...


	21. Always Remember

A HUGE hug and kiss for all my reviewers: those who reviewed once, those who reviewed toward the beginning and not the end, those who reviewed toward the end and not the beginning, and especially those who reviewed throughout the whole—or most of the whole—story… in other words, all of you:

**aya777, banana-princess93, bubbleishness, Chrissy, Crying Pixie, dark4u, Debz, Doodleflip, Gemm'n2590, Girl with the Evil Computer, GredAndForge4President, Gurlsboy, ilovecaptainjacks, Jaffy Miblo, jessamine, jr.Journalist, justdreem, JustYourAverageReviewer, katie, lil-red07, mello80, Miss Court-A-Doo, Mysterious Shadow Writer, Padfoot's Sidekick, Roe Merrifield, Schnebz, Star of the North, swimgirl, Tabby Cats, Tears-of-Love-Tears-of-Hate, **and **TooSweetWords.  
**If I accidentally left anyone out, I'm so sorry and I love you just the same!

_I won't exactly be doing a sequel to this following Katie and Oliver's post-Hogwarts years, but I'm really hoping to do another Katie-Oliver story with a completely different plot._

_I'm also planning to write a combined Angelina-Fred and Alicia-George story, in which Katie and Oliver will make a reappearance, so I guess you could kind of call it a sequel to_ Always Remember_. It'll be in Angelina and Alicia's 7th year, and will be told in their POV. Other possible stories include a Bill-Fleur, as well as a second attempt at a Lily-James. (Cross your fingers; maybe it'll be successful this time!) I'm also really really interested in writing a murder/suspense story in which Fred is accused of murder and Katie has to solve the mystery behind the murder... (ooh how exciting!)_

_Once I have complete summaries for these stories, I'll post them on my bio and you can look at them then. That is, if I ever get around to writing them! Hectic months are coming up, including a national French contest, APs, etc., and my mom is always telling me, "Stop doing Fanfiction and study for once!" (She knows what the FF website looks like now so whenever I'm on it she glares at me.) But please keep an eye out for the stories, especially the combined Angelina-Fred/Alica-George and the new Katie-Oliver story; I'm bound to post them on the site one day or another. I'll write them behind my mom's back or at school or something. _:)_ But trust me, once the hell months of March through May (_**especially**_ May) are over, I'll be back on Fanfiction with a vengeance!_

_Well, here it is! This is where the final chapter of Always Remember finally begins. Just one more note of thanks (I feel like one of those teary-eyed actresses making their thank-you speeches at the Academy Awards) : I want to say thank you to all of you who've followed through this story with me this far, and I appreciate all the criticism, praise, and support you've given me. I couldn't have done it without you; thank you so much! Good luck with your own stories, and "always remember" that I'll be more than happy to R/R them, as you've done for me. Thanks to you, I've finished my first fanfiction story ever..._

_Bloody hell, this whole spiel is making me tear up… Let's get this chapter started before I burst into hysterics and spill buckets of tears onto the keyboard. (which wouldn't be too good…)_

Last, but certainly not least… **_Chapter 21_**

Katie couldn't remember a happier, yet sadder, summer. She spent every moment of it that she could with Oliver. She went to the Quidditch World Cup with his family, and they witnessed Viktor Krum's spectacular Wronski Feint and Ireland's glorious win over Bulgaria.

After that, they went to the home of Puddlemere United, where they were given a tour of the stadium by Bert Deverill himself. Then they met up with a few of the other reserve players, whom Oliver had gotten to know before and had decided to room with in their own flat once the season began.

Katie and Oliver spent the rest of their time alone. Their days ranged from walks in the park to trips to London; from a visit back to Hogsmeade to Oliver's first trip to a Muggle cinema. But no matter how many hours they spent with each other, it was painfully obvious to Katie that their time together was running out...

* * *

_It's the third time in ten minutes that Katie has sighed. I look up at her from my position on the floor, where I'm packing my shirts into a trunk._

"_What's wrong?" I ask. She leans back against the head of my bed and hugs a pillow to her chest. _

"_The summer's already over," she says. "It's so depressing."_

"_We still have three more days left."_

"_Exactly. Three measly days, which will fly by like three seconds."_

_I look up from my packing. She's looking down miserably at her hands, which are folded in her lap. I stand up and sit beside her on the bed, and take her hands in mine._

"_It's not like one of those bloody soaps where the guy and the girl never get to see each other again," I say, laughing softly._

"_Can I jump in the trunk with your shirts?" she asks. I laugh, and she finally smiles. "I know I'm being possessive but I'm afraid of losing you."_

"_And you don't think I have the same thoughts? You don't think I worry about the flocks of blokes that'll surround you the second their little brains register that I'm not coming back to Hogwarts?"_

_That gets a laugh out of her. "Oh please, Oliver, that's ridiculous. Flocks of blokes surrounding me, indeed... As if I would ever be unfaithful to you."_

"_Which is exactly how I feel. I'll always be faithful no matter how many lovesick female fans surround me."_

_I grin, and she laughs. "You're such a prick. Don't be as bigheaded as—"_

"_Percy," I finish. "You always say I'm like him. At least I'm not going to work in the stuffy Ministry and keep a diary of my sex dreams."_

_Katie groans. "Ugh. Please don't remind of me of _that_." _

"_You asked for it… so what do you want to do tomorrow?"_

"_I was thinking of playing this Muggle game called paintball, but I don't want to do that anymore." _

"_So what do you want to do instead?" I ask, noticing a sly smile appearing on her face._

"_Well right now I want to try this thing called 'setting Wood on fire...'"_

_I raise my eyebrows. "Wood as in my last name or wood as in the stuff that comes from trees?"_

"_Well what do you think?" she whispers seductively._

_I pretend to think hard, and say with exaggerated innocence, "The stuff that comes from trees?"_

"_Oh shut up," she laughs. "You know which one I meant."_

"_So how do you play?" I ask, grinning. Katie pulls me close to her on the bed and kisses me slowly. _

"_Well it starts like this…" _

_

* * *

_

The train's whistle blew shrilly and people scurried across the train station to make it on time.

"Well I have to go," Oliver said, letting go of Katie's hand to pick up his trunks.

"You never explained why you're taking the train instead of Apparating," Katie said.

"With all of these?" Oliver laughed, indicating his cart stacked with trunks. "You think I can Apparate with all this crap? I have my whole life in them!" He paused. "Well, actually…" He dropped the trunks he held and took her face in his hands. "_This _is my whole life. The trunks hold only the trivial things that I need."

"Like I always say, you're the most hopeless romantic I've ever met," Katie laughed, although she could feel tears pricking the back of her eyes. "The next thing you'll be asking for is a lock of my hair to cherish forever."

"Not a bad idea," he said with mock seriousness. "And what do you think I should ask for next? An eyelash? A toenail clipping? Ear wax?"

"Oliver, that's disgusting. Look, I fixed this." She pulled at the delicate chain around her neck and opened the locket. Now, instead of two individual pictures of her and Oliver, there were two different pictures of both of them together on either side. "That way our pictures won't get lonely and yours won't have to keep running over to mine."

Oliver laughed. "I guess my picture's a hopeless romantic too, huh?" The train whistle blew again, this time more urgently. "Katie, I really have to go."

"'K." She stood on her toes and gave him a peck on the lips. "Bye."

"Now that's not good enough," he said, pulling her closer and kissing her so deeply that a group of girls standing nearby sighed wistfully.

"I thought of a way to see you during the year," he said after he finally pulled away. "Other than vacations, I mean. When you have Hogsmeade trips, I'll see if I can take the day off and see you there. How's that?"

"Sounds good."

"And remember, I'll be waiting for you. Once you get out of Hogwarts… who knows? Maybe we'll settle down, get married, have a dozen kids or so…"

"Why don't we wait a bit longer before we start planning that far?" Katie said, laughing.

Oliver grinned. "Yeah, but you won't forget? That I'm waiting for you?"

"I'll always remember," she replied with a smile. "Now hurry or you'll _have_ to Apparate with all your crap."

Oliver laughed as he picked up his trunks. "Bye. Love you," he said, bending closer to kiss her cheek.

"Love you too." Katie waited as he stepped onto the train, and a few minutes later, she saw him through the window of his compartment. The train's whistle blew for one last time. The engine roared, the train moved forward, slowly, and then began to pick up speed.

Oliver poked his head out the window and waved. Katie smiled and blew him a kiss. Even though she knew she would be seeing him again, it still hurt to see him leave.

But she kept smiling, for his sake, and waved until his face was no longer in sight.

..._the end_... 


End file.
